Remnant Commando
by THE Glorious Him
Summary: A retired sangheili commando is sent to the world of Remnant by an ancient device found on a Sangheili-Human joint occupation world. Will his "charismatic" nature find him new allies and a way home, or will he be forced to face down a world full of humans forged by nature's wrath. (Discontinued! Undergoing a drastic rewrite elsewhere on the site.)
1. chapter 1

It was an uneventful day on Z52-48, the newest world in the Joint-Occupation Zone. Xal 'Kalek, a former Spec-Ops Commando who retired after he got too old to fight effectively, likes to train on days like these. Just because he's old doesn't mean he has to let himself go. He puts on his combat harness, the space-black armor of his old profession.

As he is finishing equipping the weapons he wishes to train with today, a beam rifle, an energy sword, and four plasma grenades, his door opens. Xal doesn't hear footsteps, his house is pretty isolated so the chances of someone he doesn't know happening upon his home are slim, and a customer would knock. Then he hears the warbling noise. It was just Floats Aimlessly, the huragok who lives with him, Xal didn't even know he left. Floats Aimlessly would sometimes go and explore the local area for materials to go into the workshop that they ran, and as usual Aims didn't drop by to say hello to the old sangheili.

Xal decides to postpone his training to see what that sentient balloon dragged in. Whenever Xal walks into the workshop he can't help but feel elated, he has acquired quite the collection over the years, he had vehicles, weapons, trophies, and purchases. Some of his collection were completely original, and some of them he heavily modified. His beam rifle is one such weapon, modified to have a larger battery size and an increase to its already impressive penetration capability.

And then he looked to the object on the workbench. It was a large, chrome sphere. Xal turned his head to look at Floats Aimlessly, who was busy inspecting the object. "What is it?"

The huragok only took his tentacles off of the sphere long enough to wave them around in a pattern that Xal recognized as, _I don't know._ Xal didn't exactly appreciate that answer as it was unsettling for obvious reasons.

"So you brought an unknown, possibly dangerous object into my house?" Hmm, Xal sounded far less angry than he was going for, strange, indifference wasn't his usual reaction to anything. Sometimes he would just shout for no reason at all, just the other day he got into a loud argument with a client about the existence of the color purple.

The tentacled balloon just looked at him with that permanently gleeful look on his face, and all he had to for himself was, _Yes.._ Now Xal was quite surprised by his own reaction. Next thing he knew he was running his hands over the sphere, marveling at its smoothness.

Then all of a sudden the top of the object opened, and slowly a flag began to rise from it, just a small red flag. Once the flag rose a few inches a blinding flash like that of a camera forced both individuals present to close their eyes. When they opened up again they were not greeted by the sight of the workshop, but a forest. The object was still present but when Xal went to pick it up it imploded and released confetti accompanied by a party noise. And now Xal and Floats Aimlessly were possibly stuck in an unknown region that might even be on a completely different planet from his house.

Xal was more than a little irritated, he would probably break down and scream if he had to pay for interstellar transit. Only thing to do now was seek civilization and get a ride home. He gestured for Floats Aimlessly to follow, unable to shake the feeling of being watched. After a few minutes of walking, Xal heard growling and breaking twigs, and he also noticed that at some point Floats Aimlessly wandered off, living up to his name Xal supposed. But back to the possible threat, he now saw red, glowing eyes, he held off on drawing his blade, no use just slaughtering animals. Then the creature emerged from the shadows. It looked like a jiralhanae, but its skin was blacker than Xal's combat harness, and it had bony protrusions and a bone faceplate, and its eyes were full of hate and murderous intent. As soon as Xal drew his blade the beast roared and charged at him. He easily sidestepped the beast, slashing one of its hind legs. The creature bellowed in pain as the blade burned through its flesh, it turned to attack Xal again only to have his sword thrust through its skull. The creature fell and began dissolving.

"Doesn't even have the decency to leave a trophy." Xal spat. He thought back to the fight, easy as it was, his movements were fast and smooth, he felt good, like he was twenty again, it seems the object from the colony wasn't just a total prank. He felt as if he could take on the whole galaxy, like he could win a fist fight against a hunter, like he- forgot about Floats Aimlessly.

If huragok weren't so valuable Xal would have just continued on his way, leave the troublesome creature behind, but he needs help maintaining his more complex equipment. That pink balloon animal couldn't have gotten far, but then again he could fly while Xal could not. Or Floats Aimlessly could just be cowering somewhere nearby. "You can come out now, it is safe." No response. "Please come out, I do not like for my time to be wasted." It seems that the gentle approach was not working. "Worthless cur!" Xal bellowed. "Get out here before I do something that we shall both regret!"

Xal didn't have time for this, so he just chose direction and began walking.

 **First chapter of a possibly long story, tell me what you think.**


	2. You're no warrior

Xal had been walking for hours. Every once in a while one of those black creatures would attack and provide some mild entertainment, but other than that it was boring and slow going. On top of all this, that little gas bag, Floats Aimlessly, went and abandoned him. But the best part, the absolute best part, was that the creatures that have been attacking him more or less confirmed that he was on another planet!

There might not even be sentient life here, he could be stuck on some uncharted world with only his thoughts for company! This internal rant reminded him of something, he said he was probably going to do something and on his honor he's probably going to do it. So he drops to his knees and lets it all out, "RAAAAAAAAWWWW!!" Now that that's out of way, back to walking.

After a few more minutes of his slog through the forest he hears some noises, delicious, loud noises, some of favorite sounds. The sounds of combat. Xal engages his active camouflage and sprints towards that beautiful cacophony. Upon arriving in a large clearing the first thing he sees is a massive bird, and then a giant, whatever those things some humans kept as pets, what were they called, SCORPIONS! It was a giant scorpion.

Xal unholstered his beam rifle to use the scope so he could get a better look at the figures fighting the local megafauna. "Oh, thank the gods above! Humans!" That felt very strange to say, he had to flex his mandibles to get rid of that feeling, but at least now there was a chance of getting a ride home.

It would seem that seem that these larger creatures were much more formidable than the ones he fought on way here, consuming large amounts fire. They were giving the humans quite a bit of trouble. He was now weighing the pros and cons of assisting them, on one hand their weapons seemed to lack any kind of armor penetrating capabilities, on the other they were confident enough to fight with the bare minimum protective gear, of course all of this could just mean they were unprepared, they did look rather young.

In the end his logic didn't matter, he was already aiming for the bird's head, the scorpion could be finished by way of blade. The bird creature screeches in agony as a violet lance of energy goes through its skull as a needle goes through paper, knocking it out of the sky. The beast fell to the ground with a mighty crash, only to get up and take off moments later. It would seem the monster's sheer volume saved its brain from getting totally cooked. He would soon learn how many shots it could, it was coming right towards him after all.

(Line break)

Floats Aimlessly forgot what he was doing one moment he was flying away from the monster, and then the next he was lost, going... somewhere. He was drifting for days. And now he was floating around in a forest full of predators. But that wasn't even the worst part, he had no work to do. At least when he was with Xal there was a chance that something would break or that the old man would need help with some modifications or very fine calibrations. But out here, there was nothing, no electronics, no weapons, he would take a stone tipped spear at this point. He was stressed, he was hungry, he was scared. He really just needed something to take his mind off of everything.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by voices, human voices. Humans meant technology, technology meant calm, safety. He approached slowly, low to the ground. When he got to the source he saw two humans, a man in a red cape and gray suit, and a man with a white mask.

"That's everything I know about the dust raids, it's not much, but-" the masked man was interrupted when the caped man raised his hand.

"It's fine, I'll make sure the info gets to where it needs to go." The caped man said before taking a swig from his flask. "Now get going, we don't want your cover blown."

"Yeah, good idea, I'll call when I have more." The masked man then turned to leave, presumably back to wherever he was undercover. But that wasn't important, what was important was that machine on cape man's back, the huragok shivered at the sight of all the gears an jointed bits. Floats Aimlessly waited til cape man's back was turned, he then silently glided over and snatched the weapon off of his back before floating away as quickly as possible.

Before Floats could get away he was grabbed by cape man. The huragok couldn't help but squeal in alarm at the contact. "Ha, got ya, you little bastard." The cape man retrieved his weapon, but didn't notice the tentacle slip into his pocket and take his scroll. "Alright, what the hell are you?"

(Line break)

HAHA, a worthy opponent at last! The flying beast was much more durable than he predicted, It was even smart enough to make its head as difficult to hit as possible, which was a problem because Xal was never a great sniper and body shots didn't seem to faze it much, and the feather barrages added a whole new flavor to the fight. To say the body shots were completely ineffective would be inaccurate, the bird was still feeling the effects of multiple intense radiation burns. It was slowing down, the pain starting to get to it, it was starting to throw thinner barrages, and its head wasn't moving as much.

After firing a couple more shots the creature grew enraged. It flew high into the sky before settling into a steep dive, picking up speed. A mistake on its part, as its head was now moving predictably. The bird put its talons forward and Xal aimed his rifle. A quick pull of the trigger put a beam of radioactive particles through the monster's head. The avian beast lost control of its flight and began tumbling out of the air. It was falling, unfortunately it was going to fall right on him. There was no chance of dodging, it was too large and coming in too fast. It struck the ground, and him, with a boom, breaking Xal's shields and rendering him unconscious.

(Line break)

Pyrrha and her friends were just finishing off the deathstalker, she thought they would have to retreat to a better location to fight the nevermore as well, but someone in the forest, probably another student, took the avian grimm off their hands, allowing them to focus on the tank-like grimm. With the eight of them the deathstalker didn't stand a chance. Ruby and Jaune turned out to be excellent at improvised strategies. Jaune, Ren, Blake, and herself would use their lighter weapons to keep the grimm's attention away from Ruby, Nora, Yang, and Weiss, who used their heavy hitting weapons to attack the deathstalker's underside which was exposed at the back due its tail curving upward. That wasn't to say the fight was easy, the target area was narrow and the scorpion grimm still had a thick hide, but after some time, effort, and expended munitions, the monster lay dead and dissolving.

They were preparing to help out with the nevermore only to see the purple laser from earlier send it tumbling out of the sky before hitting the ground with a boom. Phyrra waited a few moments for the helpful student to come out to retrieve a relic, she began to worry when no one came. Ruby was apparently thinking the same thing, "Should we go check to see if whoever killed the nevermore is okay?"

They all nodded and began walking towards the forest. Upon getting there, they saw the quickly dissolving grimm and its feather missiles embedded in the ground, but nothing else. Phyrra was only able to come to one reasonable conclusion, "Everyone, I think they're under it."

"We should get them out before more grimm arrive." The ever calm Ren said before walking towards the nevermore's rapidly decaying corpse. Nora just pushed him aside, lifted the grimm's remains into the air, and threw them.

To say the group was shocked by the creature revealed to be under the grimm would be stating the obvious. It was a large broad shouldered creature clad in black armor and had an elongated head, which was completely covered by strange helmet. Next to it was what appeared to be big, purple rifle that glowed in places.

"Whoa! What is that!" It seems Nora managed to catch her breath after the physical strain that was throwing corpses.

"I don't know; should we take it back to Beacon?" Phyrra asked with some trepidation. "One of the professors might know what to do with it."

"I'll carry its gun!" Ruby exclaimed with excitement. With that Nora and Yang grabbed it by its arms and legs and began carrying it back to the academy.

(Line break)

 **Chapter two everybody, many thanks to everyone who decided to follow, favorite and review, next chapter we'll finally get to actual character interaction. And sorry that the end is super rushed.**


	3. There You Are

Xal 'Kalek was having a pretty bad day, not as bad as it could have been, but not ideal. First he had been transported to another world, then Floats Aimlessly the huragok left him, with it all culminating into him being crushed by a giant dead bird. On the optimists side of things, the huragok was annoying, there were humans on this world which meant that he could call for a ship, and that he won against the bird. Dead enemy meant victory.

When he finally regained consciousness and got his senses back in focus, he found that he was being carried by his arms and legs, he twisted about in order to release himself which resulted in him being dropped on his back. He was about to draw his sword, but quickly relaxed when he saw it was the humans from earlier, and even if they proved hostile eight humans in close quarters wouldn't be a problem. They seemed wary of him, a natural reaction to an armed warrior, he would have to handles this carefully, "Humans." His friendliest tone normally sounded warmly dismissive, something humans should be used to from his species, if not outright cold indifference.

"OH MY GOSH GUYS!! We found an alien!" An orange haired female with a grenade launcher on her back yelled while pointing and jumping excitedly. "I remember this from the last time I drank coffee!" Coffee? How would that allow one to see the future? Then he noticed she was still jumping and zipping about, singing "We found an alien" repeatedly. Coffee would probably have strange effects on the girl.

"Yes?... Now if you would be so kind as to p- is that my gun?" The shortest one was carrying his beam rifle, trying to slowly put it behind her back.

"Heh heh, what gun?" Was she truly trying to steal his weapon? She must not be a thief, because this was a pretty bad attempt even by his standards. So she could be forgiven, killing a child would be a bad first impression.

"The weapon behind your back, return it, now." He began reaching for his rifle, before the next set of questions proved that they completely ignored him.

"Do you have a flying saucer? Do you abduct cows?" The orange haired girl asks before gasping, "Do you probe people?!" That last one really confused him, what purpose could that possibly have? A question he would probably never actually want answered.

"No." A simple answer to a very strange question, "Now then, I will need my gun and directions to a place where I may charter a ship." Now he would be able to leave, go back to his shop, and maybe finish a few projects. "And if you find a huragok called Floats Aimlessly, please have him returned to Xal 'Kalek on Joint-Occupation World Z52-48."

They now looked more confused than wary, with the exception of the smallest human who was still trying to hide his rifle from him, and the orange haired human who was just standing there smiling with her head cocked to the side, it was...unsettling. "Well I personally don't know of any places like that, but we're on our way back to Beacon, maybe you can ask around there?" The red haired human offered a very tedious solution, but he would have no choice but to accept as no one else was speaking up with better ideas or directions.

"Very well, but my weapon, seriously, it is not as comedic as you seem to believe." The shortest one was reluctant about it to say the least.

"Do I have to?" The extra small human attempted to give him, what did they call it, puppy dog eyes?

"Yes, you do, I would maybe allow you to keep a plasma pistol, but beam rifles are hard to get a hold of in even the best of times, and I also put quite a bit of work into it so losing it would be quite the blow to my collection." She nodded in understanding before handing the rifle back.

"I understand how you feel, if I lost Crescent Rose I would be pretty sad." The human still seemed saddened about returning his weapon, looking like the human equivalent of when one of nephews or nieces was done struggling with an aurum.

"Crescent Rose?" Perhaps speaking of something she valued would bring the happy mood back. He didn't like negative emotions, except anger, he liked being angry sometimes.

"Oh! Crescent Rose is my scythe, I designed it myself at Signal!" Such enthusiasm! A little less would be appreciated though, drawing ones' weapon for no reason is bad etiquette.

"Truly? Perhaps we can speak of your design choices while we walk." He did not know the combat effectiveness of a scythe, he didn't think they would be too good for fighting, farming tools almost never are, but it was collapsible, which would make the large weapon much less of a pain to transport.

"That sounds good, maybe you can show me yours." Excellent, there is now a significantly happier youngling.

"Of course, do the rest of you humans have anything you wish to discuss before we depart?"

"What's a huragok?" The green shirted human seems to have been paying attention.

"A huragok is a pinkish purple floating tentacled creature. Annoying as the one I specifically is, I do value him." Not to mention that huragok are generally defenseless and this world's wildlife are quite aggressive. "Are we ready to depart? I would rather not be away from home longer than I need to."

"How are you able to speak our language?" Have these humans been living under a rock for the past sixty years? That would explain some of the strange questions, though this would also possibly mean that this planet has had no contact with the rest of the galaxy, which would be unsettling for one reason in particular, they may not have the equipment necessary for interstellar communication. That would mean he is stuck here until a ship just happens to stumble upon him. He would rather not think about that.

"I learned this language for the sole purpose of being able to spew proper insults, it is difficult to anger an opponent when they don't get the joke." Some of the humans tensed up at that, if they truly missed out on the past sixty years... the word opponent in the context of using their language to insult enemies, they were probably thinking he was a hostile.

The black creatures must have been able to smell fear or something because a few tense moments later the were being attacked on all sides by the jiralhanae-like creatures along with a large pack of the dog-like creatures. He wouldn't even bother to draw his blade, the dark skinned beasts have claws, and so does he. He would have as much fun with the restored youth the artifact gave him as possible.

He leapt over the humans, who were already fighting rather impressively, with a roar. He landed behind the nearest dog creature, quickly grabbing both ends of its head and twisted until they were face to face, "HAHAHAHA!" Its back was still turned though! He quickly moved on to the next, striking it with an uppercut before delivering his best kick to its chest, sending the creature's broken body colliding into a tree. One of the larger creatures then caught him by surprise, the paw swipe wasn't as powerful as a hunter's shield bash, but it was still enough to knock him back a couple of meters.

He would need his sword to deal with this one, the dog creatures weren't much different in size compared to him and so were easily dispatched by hand, but the jiralhanae creatures had thick skin and large bodies, his claws wouldn't be enough. The creatures were fond of charging, so he entered his stance and prepared to jump. The beast did not disappoint, as it ran at him he jumped over the monster, readying his blade for a plunge into the creatures back upon his descent. He landed, his blade hitting home and his free hand gripping one of the bony protrusions for support. As the creature bellowed in pain he withdrew his blade, shifted his body, and stabbed into its neck.

Three kills was a disappointing result, but the fight was over, only Xal and the humans remained. He deactivated his sword and turned to the younglings. "We should go," he then activated his camouflage, "lead the way, I will follow."

(Line break)

Floats Aimlessly was not having a nice time, the caped man had captured him and wouldn't let go. The caped man couldn't understand sign language either, but at least now he knew what to do with the stolen scroll, he quickly took it apart and within seconds he had a workable translation device.

 _Let go,_ the devices camera read his tentacle movement and translated it to speech, he would have to work on sound of the voice later to sound more natural.

Caped man let go and checked his pockets, "Little bastard took my scroll."

 _"Sorry."_ The huragok then reconfigured the scroll back to its base form while adding in a few improvements like better signal reception, an improved battery life, and a more sensitive interface, he also changed the screen color to purple, just because. He then handed it back to cape man.

Cape man took a moment to inspect his scroll, "Thanks, now what the hell are you?" Floats Aimlessly attempted to sign the answer but stopped when he realized cape man couldn't understand. "Right." cape man handed the scroll back to Floats Aimlessly. He should take advantage of time he gets to hold the device, Xal will be a lot less likely to yell at him if he at least has some useful information.

After downloading the device memory to himself, Floats Aimlessly learns that cape man's name is Qrow Branwen, but other than that, nothing but numbers for various taverns and someone named "Oz". There are a few recorded conversations that he will have Xal analyze when they are reunited. He just doesn't have the linguistic creativity to gain anything from them. Using the device's internet connection he learns a few useful technological tidbits, such as the material known as dust. A wonderful material from what he could surmise, he'd love to get his tendrils on some, the possibilities were close to endless: gravity manipulation, electricity, propellant, every need could be met with dust. He downloaded everything known about it into his memory. He then reconfigured the scroll back into a translation device, which he then turned into a setting, it would go back to its base form at the push of a button.

 _"I am a huragok."_ it was obvious, you don't see anything technologically important going on without one of his kind nearby, every human has seen at least one by this point.

"That doesn't answer my question." Qrow crosses his arms.

 _"Yes it does."_ Was he serious, that was what he asked for what more could he possibly want in an answer?

"Are you a machine? Some kind of spy drone? An alien?" He wanted to be less specific apparently, wanted some broad terms, his brain couldn't understand why every other species in the galaxy wanted to make everything so complicated?

 _"No, no, yes."_ Qrow better not need more than that because this becoming a waste of time, the scroll gave him directions to the nearest population center, he should be on his way.

"So, why are you here? Abducting cows?" That was an odd question, what could possibly be done with a cow? Floats Aimlessly wasn't a lifeworker, he had no interest in anything non-artificial in nature.

 _"No."_ Why was this man asking nonsense questions? Did he have no knowledge of other species? He needed to find Xal, the old sangheili usually handled social interaction.

"Then what do you do?" An question he felt comfortable answering, finally.

 _"I repair and improve machines."_ Hopefully that was the end of the questioning, he still needed to find Xal. _"Do you know where I can find my friend?"_

"Know what? Go find Professor Ozpin at Beacon Academy, I'm sure you two could help each other." That location is days away, he wouldn't be able to make it. "I'll take you to a place where you can get a bullhead, it'll get you there in no time, and in return you can deliver a few messages for me." Sounded like the easiest way to get to where he needed to be, and the task seemed easy enough.

 _"Ok"_

(Line break)

"What did you mean when you said you learned our language to insult opponents, did you fight humans once?" Blake asked the near invisible being walking behind them. She still didn't fully trust him, helpful or not.

"Indeed youngling, though I never did put it to use in combat." He said that so casually, like an alien fighting humans was no big deal. "I would laugh at every kill, but I never did truly speak to any of my enemies."

"Is killing really that casual of a topic for you?" Sure, she was trained to kill humans and grimm alike, but Xal saying it so casually just felt wrong, was ending another thinking being so easy on his mental state.

"I apologize if I offended you in any way youngling, I was merely answering your questions, though I do understand that young humans wouldn't be pleased with my answers." His voice became went from casual to almost fatherly in a way, that didn't mean she had to like anything he said though.

"Uh, hey, you said we were gonna talk about weapons on the way to Beacon!" Ruby spoke up, clearly trying to change the subject to something less troubling.

"That I did small warrior! Tell me of your scythe's combat applications!" Xal seemed to want the subject change too. The massive alien seemed amicable enough, but judging by the way he talked about his violent past with humans, if provoked enough he might kill everyone present without a second thought.

"Hey Yang, how do you feel about our new friend?" The blond just shrugged, seemingly uncaring about the situation.

"I think he's a nice enough guy, Ruby gets along with him pretty good." Xal was no longer invisible and was showing Ruby the details of the purple weapon he was so proud of. They looked like they were having fun.

"Here's where we were supposed to deliver the relics. We just wait for the rest to get to here and we can go back to Beacon."

(Line break)

Soon enough Xal was on an elevator to the top of the academy's tower to meet with a Professor Ozpin. From what the humans he met in the forest told, this man would know all there was to know about this world, if there was a transmitter powerful enough to contact a ship, he would know of it.

But what would he do if there was no way home, he could acclimate to life with humans well enough, one of the requirements for living on a Joint-Occupation World, but could these humans who have never known of his kind get used to _him_. The future is uncertain, but he will make it work, always has.

Upon reaching the top the doors opened, revealing a large, opulent office. Standing behind the desk staring out the large window, was a human with grey hair wearing a green suit. This human must be Ozpin. "Ah, you must be the guest the children told me about." The man turned and began walking towards him, stopping and offering his hand for a shake, which Xal accepted. "I am Headmaster Ozpin, I run this huntsman academy."

"Xal 'Kalek. And, huntsman academy? What is it you do here?" It sounded obvious, but wanted to know, indulge his curiosity.

"Huntsman academies exist to train warriors to fight the creatures of grimm and those who wish to do harm, some of them have been learning to fight since they could pick up a weapon." Xal raised his eyebrow at this, which the headmaster couldn't see through his helmet.

"Truly? Good to know that somewhere humans do it right, they usually take it too far and get a machine instead of a warrior." He had known a few demons, helped train Spartan-IVs along side them, they generally weren't very interesting to talk to.

"Well, I'm glad you approve. Now, what was a fully armed warrior doing wandering about in the Emerald Forest?" He knew this question would come up, but he was embarrassed by the answer, accident or no.

"On most days I like to train, to keep myself in shape. To do so I put on my old combat harness and take whatever weapon I wish to hone my skills in, but today a friend of mine brought a strange artifact into my home, and now I am here." The headmaster took a sip from his mug. "But we are getting sidetracked, I was told you might know where I could charter a ship."

"There is no such place here, we haven't reached a space age." What? "I am sorry, but you might be stuck here for quite some time."

"So that is it then? I thank you for your time." Now was the time to plan where to go from here. He would need to find hunting grounds, water sources, shelter, or he could integrate with the humans who have never seen a sangheili before. He could also learn about the weapon mechanisms they use here and open up a workshop here. As he neared the elevator the headmaster stopped him.

"You know, we could always use more warriors at the academy, we could give you a position if you're interested, and from I've seen on the forest cameras, you are quite good. Do you accept?" The headmaster took another sip from his beverage, Xal nodded.

"That will work."

(Line break)

 **1,000 more words than the last chapter, and feel free to leave a review, all feedback is appreciated. Even it's just some random thing that bugs you or question about certain choices, reviews will motivate me to make longer chapters at a faster rate. I will even respond to reviews (not retroactively though). And now we're finally getting away from all the introductions.**


	4. WORT WORT WORT

"Now Xal, what would you say is your area of expertise?" Xal had been going through the "application process" with Headmaster Ozpin for a bit after expressing interest in possible employment. They had discussed things like whether or not he had a criminal, if he had experience training warriors, and the like. Xal answered with no reservations, talking about himself was one of favorite pastimes after all.

"I was trained to take on the most dangerous and difficult tasks available, I work best in groups of two to four, and I have never missed a grenade stick." A point of pride for him, he may not have been great with a beam rifle, but he never misses with a plasma grenade. "Anything from reconnaissance to force extermination, nothing is beyond my blade."

"You say that the humans here have train warriors correctly, have you encountered humans on different worlds?" Earlier in the conversation he learned that the humans here believed this planet to be their homeworld, he was inclined to believe the Headmaster, 400 years was not enough time for any species that was capable of space travel and information storage to forget something like that. The universe held many secrets, some would never be answered.

"Yes, on many worlds." The Headmaster would probably ask for more specific answers, but Xal would rather not tell a human who had no knowledge of the war that had once been part of effort to destroy his species. Best not play all his cards.

"And how do your people train warriors?" Xal had expected Ozpin to ask follow up questions to how these encounters went and what they had to do with training, but from he could tell this human was smart, he had probably already inferred from his body language and tone of voice that the encounters were less than peaceful.

"Upon hatching the childlings are placed in communal dorms, where they are all of equal status, to maintain this equality they are not allowed to know the identity of their biological parents, this also inspires loyalty to the clan rather than loyalty to individuals. As soon as they are capable of properly holding a weapon, combat training begins, it carries on until the end of adolescence, at which point males are to join the military, females remain and govern the keep while also keeping the bloodline records."

"Interesting, if the children do not know their parents then how are they raised?" Ozpin takes another sip from his mug.

"They are raised by everyone in the keep, mothers and uncles." An interesting difference to the human he was sure. Humans and small colonies had no such rules, though some these policies had a weaker hold because of Thel Vadam's reforms.

"What are your general views on the human race?" Xal was generally indifferent, he had to be honest, but not insultingly so.

"I protect my allies, regardless of species." Nailed it. The Headmaster sipped his drink, and then brought out a few items.

"I think that will suffice, here is a scroll with some files on things you will need to know for your stay at Beacon, and also some lien in case you wish to purchase clothing or something." Ozpin pushed the things across the desk towards Xal, who immediately began inspecting the scroll. "You will find your quarters in the southern wing with the rest of the faculty dorms."

(Line break)

Xal was reading his new scroll on the way to his quarters, there were folders on dust, certain key points in history, his schedule, an advertisement for Wacky Glackies, and a cover story for his presence. The now official story was that he was of a race from one of Remnant's unexplored regions across the sea, though the Professors were entrusted with the truth. As for his new job, he would be teaching advanced group tactics and hand-to-hand combat. He already had experience with teaching these subjects so it wouldn't be too much of an adjustment.

He would be starting tomorrow, the faculty were already made aware of existence, to the students however, it would be a surprise. His stomach began growling, making him realize it been several hours since he had last eaten. All the students were asleep in their dorms at this point, so a quick trip to the cafeteria would be of no consequence.

When he opened the door to the kitchen he was mildly surprised to find Nora and Ren. All students should be asleep at this time. "Humans, what are you doing here?" The two jumped with a start. "You have classes tomorrow, you should be resting."

"Hey Xal! Xalophone! Xal of fame! Xa-" Nora was interrupted with a pancake in her mouth. Such a strange girl. Ren simply smiled apologetically.

"Nora gets weird when she's hungry, it's in everyone's best interest I keep her fed." Ren began pouring more batter, Xal went to one of the refrigerators, and after some searching decided on a bowl of fish. He took off his helmet and stretched his mandibles. As protective as the commando helmet was, it was restrictive, he couldn't talk comfortably.

"You're mouth is weird, it's like four toothy fingers, it would be even weirder if you had a tongue!" Gasp! "You don't have a tongue! How do you-" Nora was silenced by another pancake. Xal just swallowed a fish moved onto the next. This human was like an overactive unggoy.

"Like I said, she gets weird." Xal wasn't going to argue, the girl was still tearing into her pancake like she was trying to kill something.

"Quite, well you two carry on, and get some sleep," Xal put on a smirk along with his helmet, "you'll need it for my class." And with that he was on his way to follow his own advice. Tomorrow was going to be a great day. He wouldn't be teaching till 2:00, so he would have plenty of time to read the files on his scroll, there was much to do.

(Line break)

The next morning was pretty uninteresting, Xal merely took the time to read the file on "aura" which was, from what he could tell, a force multiplying, organic shield. And that further training would reveal a "semblance" a more tangible manifestation of aura, and it would seem most of their weapons technology was based on the use of aura and the material known as dust, which was the basis of all of this worlds technology. And he finally learned the terminology for identifying the "creatures of grimm" which was nice.

There really was not much to do other than memorize the names on his roll sheet and go over his schedule, was mostly free with the exception of his class and a faculty meeting. At some point today he would need to find a tailor and get some casual clothing, it would be improper to wear his combat harness at all times. But before any of that he would need to learn the campus layout. It would not do to be late for his own class.

The moment he walked out the door he was accosted by a very fast green haired man. "Oh! You must be the new extraterrestrial Professor! I am Dr.Oobleck, I teach history! Would you mind if I ask you a few questions?!" Oobleck quickly adjusted his glasses and drank some of his coffee.

"Very well, let us walk." Xal put his hands behind his back and began making his way to his classroom, best learn that route first.

"Right, now what can you tell me of your home? What is the environment like? What type of government do you have? Do you have any widespread religions? How do-"

"Slow down doctor, one at a time, I assure you, all your questions will be answered to the best of my ability." The two walked by multiple students who apparently didn't know that staring was rude.

"I come from the planet Sangheilios in the Urs system, there are three suns and we are on the very edge of the habitable zone, so much of the world is desert forcing most states to be on the coast. Such as Kalek, my home keep."

The doctor quickly jots down some notes. "Oh of course, now you mentioned the name of one of your local stars, what of the other two?"

"Yes, there is Urs, Joori, and Fied. All named after old gods. Sangheilios is a very nice place, you should visit if you somehow get the chance."

They talked about a few more topics until Xal, who would now be known as Prof.'Kalek, arrived at what would be his classroom. It was like a small amphitheater, it had some bleachers, a desk in the corner, and a small stage presumably for fighting, it wouldn't be used today, today's lesson would be special. He went over to the desk and sat in the cushiony chair, he would have to get one better designed to suit his body, maybe he would do that the same day he gets casual clothing. He had an hour to go before his class got here, next was an article on the faunus, the local human subspecies.

They were essentially genetically enhanced humans, given animal traits that were generally very functional. Though they were treated little better than unggoy, only in that they you couldn't legally kill one because it was funny, which was strange, humans almost worshipped their enhanced soldiers where he came from, and gods knew that humans needed those enhancements. Perhaps he could learn more from any faunus students.

He wondered if the surveillance equipment he requested this morning was set up yet, it would certainly put a damper on things if he had to postpone the lesson he had planned. It wouldn't be too dangerous or difficult, today at least. But he was sure they would all enjoy it either way. And another thing he would need to address! The humans' combat attire! Who in their right minds would fight in high heels! It was an unnecessary risk factor! He would need to find a way around that whole self expression thing this world's humans had, he was fine with form _and_ function, but not form _over_ function. And furthermore-

The door was being opened, he checked his scroll and would you look at the time, ten minutes until class starts. He then looked to the door, it was team JNPR. "Welcome younglings!" Xal stood up, gesturing to the room with his arms outstretched. "Take a seat, class will start soon."

"Wow, they really gave you a job, congratulations." The human known as Phyrra Nikos stated.

"Many thanks Miss Nikos."

Before anything else could be said the rest of the class began funneling in. After a few minutes of setting in it was time to begin. "Welcome humans, to Advanced Group Tactics and Hand-to-Hand Combat, here you will learn to use your team's abilities to their fullest, where one member falls short the other will pick up, you will fight as a single entity, and if you ever find yourself unarmed, you will be able to use the most reliable weapon available, your body. You will be the best I can make of you."

He thought that he made a pretty good introduction, but there were whispers, "First the faunus and now this freak." Who was that? After a few seconds of looking he learned that it was the leader of team CRDL. He thought he was being quiet, after Xal decided on one of the multiple punishments going through his mind right now he would learn just how good his hearing is.

"HAHAHA HAHAHA AHAHAHA" he didn't even realize he was laughing until Nora joined in, and then he saw the concerned looks of all the students. Good, that's a way to teach them fear. "Well then, younglings, we are going on a field trip." He began walking to the door only to realize he was not being followed, all the students still had that concerned look. "Come along, quickly!"

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"Does the shipping yard count as a field trip?" Ruby whispered to Yang, perplexed at their destination.

"I don't know, but didn't this guy seem a bit more stable when we first met him, like now he's just kinda-" Yang was silenced as their new Professor spoke up.

"As you can see, we are at the shipping yard! Today's activity will test how each team operates in different situations, one team will be defending, the other will be hunting! The last team standing wins! Who wants to be hunted first?!" One of those silhouette people raised their hand. "Team CRDL, thank you for volunteering!" They looked very surprised. "You have twenty minutes to get prepared, move!" Team CRDL moved into the jungle of crates, after they were out of sight..."Team JNPR, you will be hunting." Cardin was a jerk, Ruby would of liked to hit him a few times herse- "Team RWBY! You join in too, why would I send in one team to hunt when I have two! Eliminate your opponents in the most efficient way possible, and by that I mean brutal!"

"Yeah! Let's break their legs!" Nora screamed, hoisting her hammer in the air.

"Excellent enthusiasm, extra credit for your entire team!" Weiss looked liked she was to explode from indecision, one hand there was a possibility of extra credit, on the other she was supposed to be better than that. In the end she decided to keep quiet. "That's the end of their time, happy hunting!"

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 **I apologize in advance for this one, the kept messing up and I got nervous that it wouldn't save any big chunks, I was going for 6,000 words with this one, anyway, all feedback is appreciated, no matter how trivial it may be.**


	5. I'm hit!

It was just Xal and the silhouettes now, all the students with faces were currently participating in a lesson he had planned since he had been hired, though this specific version of the lesson was cooked up about a half hour ago. Teams RWBY and JNPR were hunting team CRDL in the shipping yard, which was a perfect training ground, it had everything one could want: cover, choke points, high ground, and hiding spots, along with a few open spaces. And thanks to the cameras he had set up hours prior, he was provided with a perfect way to show students where they could improve, or with this particular instance, some entertainment.

He already knew firsthand how effective RWBY and JNPR could be together, though he only witnessed their battle with the deathstalker for a short time. But he did not expect the massive skill gap between them and CRDL, though Nora did not follow through on the leg breaking, CRDL would not be moving under their own power for some hours. Massive skill gap may have been an unfair assessment, given the nature of the lesson, but they didn't even meet what expectations he had. The two winning teams made their way back to him, carrying the beaten and battered team CRDL with them.

"That will conclude today's teamwork lesson! But the real takeaway from this would be that I have very good senses!" He bent down to the bruised Cardin, "Anything said in class, I will hear it." He said in his lowest growl. "Team MINR," he gestured to a group of four silhouettes, "carry team CRDN." He straightened back up, "let's go back to class and get in a few drills."

(Line break)

The lessons were similar for the rest of the week, with some variation here and there. Some days he would have the teams hunt each other unarmed, on other days he would mix things up by giving one team logistical support, or by setting random traps in the shipping yard, every once in a while he would get complaints from the workers, but the traps were more inconvenient than lethal, those ones would be saved for later in the year.

Ms.Schnee and Ms.Rose, given their small size and use of very specialized weapons, were harder to train than most of the others in hand-to-hand, along with Mr.Arc, who was just outright unpracticed, even more than the other two. Even team CRDL was showing improvement, they were no longer doing stupid things, not in his presence at least. He had them all sparring, giving advice here and there, though most of his attention was devoted to the aforementioned three.

Soon enough, class was near its end, "I would like to congratulate you eight on your performance in today's team activity, Ruby, Jaune, excellent coordination and leadership." They both smiled at that, "And you have improved by leaps and bounds in unarmed fighting, same with Weiss, keep at it, and never forget to ask your team for assistance in improving, you all are still a long way from perfect." Jaune looked almost stung by the words. Which was not unusual, it was probably a pride thing, that he could easily understand, he has killed in the name of pride.

"Don't worry Jaune, we'll get you in shape!" Phyrra said, punching him in the arm, knocking the poor boy over. "Sorry."

"I have no notes for the rest of you other than the usual, you shouldn't wear high heels in battle, you create an unnecessary risk and impede your balance for no reason. Never go form over function!" Xal takes off his helmet to drink from a bottle of water on his desk. "You may all leave, though I would like to ask you a few questions Ms.Belladonna."

"What kind of questions?" The girl gave him a look of suspicion, and her bow twitched a little. Xal found it odd that a mammal would would cover her ears in fairly warm weather, it could possibly have been another stylistic choice, more of that form over function this worlds humans seemed to be fond of. Of course the second set of ears may not have added much extra sensitivity, that was always a possibility, yet it bothered him for days either way, he needed to know.

"Oh, you two have the same color eyes!" Ruby observed, pointing and hopping in place, he noticed that she was the only one here besides Blake. But was this really the first time he removed his helmet in their presence? Had he really never shown his face? That would need to rectified come next class.

"Indeed. Ms.Belladonna, I wish to know something. Why do you cover your ears? Surely y-" he was interrupted by the other in the room.

"Blake's not covering her ears, see?" Ruby stated, grabbing the other girl's human set of ears. Blake looked terrified, almost as if she was about to faint, she must not have liked having her ears touched.

"I was not referring to those ears, Small Warrior, I was speaking of the ones on top her head." Xal tapped the top his own skull to clarify. The faunus girl looked more pale than usual, "Are you well Ms.Belladonna?"

"Uh, Blake? Are you okay?" Ruby asked, showing concern like any good leader. "Blake?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about Professor." Why was he being lied to? Surely it is no secret, he would have to over the students observation skills if it was. Blake's ears twitched quite frequently and her scent was distinctly different from a human. No matter what kind of fragrance humans tried to put on he would always know of their true scent. But of course humans didn't have the greatest perception and faunus were treated rather poorly, he had to be ready for his appointment with the local tailor later today anyway, might as well drop the issue.

"Oh? My mistake then, carry on, enjoy your weekend." Though he would address it again, soon enough. "But remember, trust your lance mates, your lives are in each other's hands." Ruby had already gone out the door. It was just him, Blake, and an awkward silence. His scroll chose that moment to chime, "There is a matter I must attend to, if you need to talk you know where to find me."

Xal picked up his helmet and made his way towards the door, but as he walked past Blake, "How did you figure it out?" He turned his head to her. "How did you know I'm faunus?"

He turned his body to face her, "Like I said at the beginning of the week, I have very good senses."

"You won't tell anyone, right?" Secrets and distrust, neither make for long lasting relationships.

"I will not spill your secrets, but I'm sure if you have none you will be happier for it. People can be quite accommodating." The girl would need to get over her trust issues soon, her team did not exist for a single short mission, they would be together for years, and they would be expected to fight together, to trust each other.

"But if the truth comes out and they hate me for it?" She was looking down, nearly on the verge of tears, this had to be about more than race.

"I do not have much encouragement to give, but perhaps I can give you some context." She was looking at him again, "I was once a member of the Covenant Empire, a theocracy that spanned the entirety of the Orion Arm across thousands of years," he was looking towards the rooms large window now, towards the sky. "Many species were united by the promise of salvation and god hood, we needed only to believe in that promise, to follow our leaders without question."

Blake looked confused now, "I don't see how this pertains to my situation."

He turned from the window back to her, his nearly nine feet tall stature dwarfing her, "When my people learned that none of it was true, that everything we devoted our lives to, was a lie, we were not pleased, the ruling class, the san'shyuum, were almost extinct within days. The lesson here is that if they had _given_ us the truth, they may have survived, they would no longer have been in control, but they would have been alive."

"You were right about not having anything encouraging. But I think I understand what you're saying." She was smiling now, "That even if things go bad from the truth, it'll be worse if my team learns on their own."

"Indeed, but I do not think you will be hated, based on your teammates general dispositions they will only love you more for your honesty." One last question. "Does the bow affect your hearing at all? I was planning on asking that before things went dramatic."

"Yeah, I can't figure out the direction of a sound as easily when it's on." As he suspected.

"Yes, of course. Take that as more motivation to no longer hide, your potential effectiveness is suffering for it." He laughed a little and realized he nearly forgot the notification from Ozpin.

"I have to keep the bow," hmm? "I might be okay with my team knowing, but everyone else is a risk," a risk? "I don't wear the bow to hide from humans, I use it to hide from the White Fang."

"Why would you need to hide from them?" Unless the White Fang were hypocrites she should not need to fear such an organization. "They exist to serve faunus, do they not?"

"That's what they exist for. But I used to be one of them, I used to believe in our cause, that we were doing the right thing, but their leader is insane. So I left."

"I see. There is no enemy more hated than the former friend. All the more reasons to have friends, thank you for your trust." And with that the conversation was over.

(Line break)

When Xal was on the elevator all he had to do was think, only him and his thoughts. Thoughts like: how great he was at counseling, or how proud he is of all his students, but mostly on the vagueness of the notification from the Headmaster. All it said was that his presence is needed, not the first such message he received over his long life, but that did not mean those messages were his favorite.

Why are elevators so slow? They had the available technology to manipulate gravity, but they did not have a gravlift? It would certainly be a little bit safer than an elevator. _ClickClick Clank,_ the doors finally opened after what felt like an hour long ride, he felt an uncharacteristic joy, it would seem his old friend had survived, "Where were you?! I thought you were dead!"

The gasbag merely waved off his concern, " _I got lost in the forest."_

"I already know that!" Now the joy was gone. "You were lost in a forest infested with extremely aggressive animals!" This is why the huragok was not frequently in his thoughts.

 _"I was ignored."_ The rage is now gone as well, there were applications for that information.

"Well it's good to have you back regardless, I have a few projects I need you to assist me with." The tentacle monster was visibly pleased by the possibility of one Xal's projects, many of which were generally very creative.

"As touching as your reunion is," Xal honestly forgot Ozpin was present, "he is not why I brought you here." The Headmaster brought up a picture of a man with unkempt hair and a thin beard. "This is Qrow Branwen, a dear friend of mine. He had found something that needs to be addressed as soon as possible, but he has asked for backup, not something he does often."

"So you wish for me provide support?" He would have to skip his appointment with the tailor.

"Yes, you will meet with Winter Schnee of Atlas at Beacon's airport." He took a sip of his coffee. "And don't worry about your appointment, I will have two of Beacon's students working on your clothes."

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 **Chapter 5 is complete. Don't forget to review, even if it is complete nonsense, more reviews=more motivation.**


	6. These blades will light our way!

It would seem that Xal's new lancemate was displeased with his lack of punctuality. "I needed to ensure I was fully armed, it is impractical to carry all my weapons if I am not expecting a battle." He then remembered the time a certain Coco Adel had taken to take his measurements for his new clothes. "There were also...some technical difficulties."

"You're still late." Winter Schnee was essentially an extreme version of her younger sister, they even had the same color scheme, but Winter lacked the thing that made Weiss tolerable, respect for her elders. "You should have been here two hours ago." Did Ms.Adel truly take that long with his measurements? Or could it have been the discussion on whether or not he should wear tight fitting shirts? Or the if he would look better in dark colors as opposed to light ones? It all most likely contributed to his tardiness.

"Bah, let us go meet the other one, you are wasting time." Xal did not appreciate being berated, but he did appreciate her devotion to the mission, even if he would not say it.

"I'm wasting time! I'm not the one who got here hours late for a time sensitive mission!" Ah, there is an emotion.

"And yet, here we are, arguing, not flying." He personally thought their relationship was off to a great start, though the elder Schnee more than likely did not feel the same, hopefully the flight was not too long.

"Fine, just get on the airship." All business, that was good, a possible sign of efficiency. Xal liked this airship, many human aircraft he had seen were hideously ugly, like rocks with wings. But this ship had style, it had a slim profile and having side doors as opposed to back doors could deploy more troops in a shorter time. And no seating, it reminded him of the old days, when he was standing in a phantom prepared to drop directly into an enemy military base to remove the opposition before the real battle even started. Good times.

He grabbed the handrail, something a phantom did not have, as they took off. "Would you like to sit down Mr.Kalek?" Winter was gesturing towards the cockpit, which had a few seats available.

"No. I feel better prepared whilst standing." The white haired woman just shrugged and went to the handrail across from him, would she not prefer to sit?

"Is my sister doing well?" Winter asked, breaking what could have been an awkward silence.

"Yes, Weiss is one of my most diligent students, she has yet to fail a task and works well with her team." He said standing taller, swelling with pride in his students.

"That's not what I asked." Hmm? "Is she happy? Is she eating well? Are her living conditions up to standard?"

"Does almost perpetually angry count as happiness?" Xal asked, with a chuckle.

"Yes, that's normal for her." The human is smiling! Another victory in Xal's opinion.

"Excellent, as for her dietary habits and living conditions I could not tell you with any certainty." Winter nods at this, seemingly content with his answers.

"Good."

"..." the silence was beginning to grate on the large sangheili, he would not consider this a comfortable silence, it was unacceptable. "What do you know of our current mission?" He had not gotten instructions beyond meet with Winter and Qrow, it wasn't a huge problem for him, his old role in the Covenant usually meant that he was the one who would be gathering the information, but he usually knew what he supposed to be doing.

"Nothing beyond that I was supposed to pick you up and meet with Mr.Branwen." Perhaps this Qrow would know more. "Before we get to Qrow, what kind of combat experience do you have?" A legitimate question.

"Over fifty years with sangheili special operations, the best of the best. What of you? I would like to know of your own martial standing."

"Atlas specialist, Special Operatives Unit, five years." It would seem that there is a whole lot of special in this aircraft.

The silence returned, there was nothing left to talk about. He had extensive skill and combat experience, his new lancemate was skilled, assuming that Atlas had the rigorous requirements for special operations that he did, and he was assured that Qrow was very skilled as well, whatever the mission was they would accomplish it without incident.

"Where on Remnant did you come from? I was told your species from one of the unexplored places, but that's it."

"Sangheilios, the dragon shaped continent to the northwest." Xal did not know that continent's actual name, but he already said he was sangheili. All he knew was that the area was devoid af human life, a perfect cover for another species.

"That's impossible. That continent is completely infested with grimm, no one could survive there." Xal gave his equivalent of a grin from under his helmet. He was nothing if not a nationalist.

"My people are very strong, it will take much more than some hostile wildlife to consign us to the void." If humanity could live on this world, the sangheili definitely could.

(Line break)

"Huh, you must be that "friend" the other thing was talking about, you're bigger than I was expecting." That was nice, Xal often liked to think he was very good at exceeding expectations- his thoughts were brought to a screeching halt when Qrow pulled a container of noxious liquid out of his jacket.

"Are you intoxicated?!" Xal was expecting much different from the human Headmaster Ozpin spoke so highly of, Xal could smell the alcohol on him from meters away. He was expecting a great warrior, not a drunken fool!

"Of course, he's always drunk," Winter was face palming, just as exasperated as her extraterrestrial teammate. "Do you ever stop drinking Qrow?" The man in question merely took a swig from his flask.

"Well Ice Queen, I would stop but the accumulated hangover might kill me." Winter was grinding her jaw so hard Xal was afraid her teeth might break. "What are you doing here anyway? I didn't think Oz would want to get Atlas involved." Qrow lifted his flask back to his lips, Xal couldn't take it anymore, he would prefer his lance did not have dull senses, he wrenched the flask out of the man's hands and threw it as hard as he could, which was a fair distance. "Hey, did Ozpin send the fun police, there's no prohibition you know!"

Xal bent to the caped man's eye level, "I want my lance operating to best of their abilities, anything less will mean defeat." Qrow just looked right back at him, taking a sip from his flask- where did he get that!

"Listen E.T., this isn't my first rodeo, now do you want to know where we're goin or not." Xal stood back up with a growl and shook his head, he could already tell this mission was going to be painful.

"Very well, what is that we are needed for?" At least he would finally be getting a briefing. That would lessen the impact of his massive headache.

"The long and short of it is that my informant in the White Fang told me those grimm face bastards found something, something we don't want them to have, and are excaving it as we speak. I need you two to help me take out the guard detail, and it is a huge guard detail, like, a small army." Xal had dealt with worse.

"Excellent, when do we depart?" To say Xal was excited would be a huge understatement, this would be the first large battle in which he participated in decades! He would finally once again put all of limits to the test, to see fear on an enemy's face, to leave any survivors mentally broken and scarred! He would finally show this world why the sangheili were feared across the galaxy, and why special operations were feared even more!

"Right now," Qrow threw both of them some packs full of supplies, "it's a few days walk from here, and we can't fly there or else we risk getting shot down." A few days? Xal would have to spend a few days... with _them_?! A tear began forming, it almost emerged before it was evaporated by Xal's overwhelming manliness! He would be fine! Yes, he survived much longer time periods with much worse, and coming out of this would only prove his greatness!

(Line break)

It had took three days, three days to get to the mission site, what should have been a quick and leisurely stroll, turned into three days of hell, attacks by massive grimm forms, his lancemates trying to kill each other, his own growing insanity. It was nighttime when they finally arrived, Xal was laying on his belly, observing the opposition through the scope of his beam rifle.

"What do see?" Winter and Qrow said simultaneously, crawling up next to him. So far Xal hadn't been able to see much, just a lot of excavation equipment and the dig site, surrounded by White Fang guards. He couldn't say with absolute certainty what they were attempting to dig up, until he saw... no, it couldn't be.

"Weapons crates." It all clicked into place, the gray material sticking out of the ground wasn't stone, it was the hull of a ship, Xal couldn't tell what class from here, but judging by the purple boxes being moved out of it, it was Covenant in origin.

"Yeah, definitely don't want those crackpots arming themselves." Qrow said, not that Xal truly heard it. How long had that been here, Xal didn't see any of those bullheads around, so that meant either they hadn't taken anything, or they had already loaded up.

"Let's make a plan." Says Winter with the initiative. Xal could see numerous spotlights, more than enough for his human compatriots to fight by, so it seem that not all faunus present had night vision.

"I will activate my active camouflage and destroy as many of the enemy as I can without being seen, the moment I am spotted you two shall help me eliminate the rest." Xal believed in simplicity, there was certain beauty to plans that only required the enemy's destruction. Xal activated his camouflage, fading from view.

He handed his beam rifle to specialist Schnee, not trusting it to the other human despite how skilled he had proven himself while drunk. Xal would claim today's first kill with a garrote he had made in his free time, it was not an energy garrote, but wire would work just as well.

Xal skillfully made his way behind their perimeter line and to the ship hangars, he would work his way outward from there. He came up behind a pair of guards, a deer faunus and what he assumed to be a lizard. With a deadly quickness he wrapped his garrote around the deer faunus' throat, dragging her back with frightening speed. His grand strength against her weak aura resulted in a very quick death.

The old elite could smell the other ones' fear now, "Hey!" The man's voice quavered, "Who's there!" The terrified reptile man began approaching his position. "You better not be messing with me Jen, it's not funny!" When the frightened faunus looked around a stack of crates he didn't even get time to scream when he saw his dead comrade before he was lifted off the ground by his neck and impaled through the back by a glowing blue blade.

Xal quietly dropped his latest his latest kill, moving to one of the inside patrol groups. He sprinted up to a group of ten, his feet carrying him silently at speeds that not even a demon could hope to match. It turned out charging his opponents headlong wasn't the best idea for a stealthy advance, one of the more reptilian animal men somehow managed to spot him.

"Holy shit! What the fuck is that thing?!" The poor man did not even raise his rifle before he was bisected, it was the same with three other soldiers, cut down without so much as a noise. Then there were six. Some of them began firing only to briefly feel terror at how fast one his kind could move before being cut down moments later, he was aim-dodging, using his sword to block what he couldn't dodge.

After four more faunus went down he got stuck on an individual with a particularly strong aura, which unfortunately meant that the last one had time to run for the alarm by the time he was finished. On the bright side, it meant that the survivor would be quite traumatized.

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 **Hurray for kinda cliffhangers, just wanted to upload real quick before the true battle starts. By the way, has anyone gotten a PM from me? I just want be sure because this app is confusing. Remember to review.**


	7. The Belly of the Beast

This wasn't supposed to be happening! He didn't sign up for this! He wasn't prepared for this, he was prepared for a lot of things such as: grimm, local militias, Atlas, even low level huntsman, but nothing could have prepared him for that thing, the black clad creature that killed ten men before any of them could blink, slaughtered them like they weren't even on par with children, and then as soon as he began running it disappeared again. He had no idea Verdis managed to see it, that snake faunus had the worst eyesight of them all.

He didn't want to die here, hiding in a corner hoping the creature doesn't find him, he just wants to go home, he wants to see his mom and his baby sister. He joined the White Fang to help the faunus, make the humans respect them, he wasn't a huntsman, he never even held a gun before this week, he didn't sign on to fight monsters, or whatever that thing was!

The poor, once hopeful faunus lad could get only curl up on himself as he heard gunfire followed by abrupt silence, and even that was broken by the sound of the alarm blaring.

(Line break)

"That's our que." Qrow said, getting out of his crouch upon hearing the alarms, although he couldn't approve of the alien's methods, he couldn't argue with the results. Qrow was no stranger to brutality, growing up with bandits will do that to ya, but he felt like the huge predatory warrior was going a bit overboard.

"This hardly seems enough for you to ask for help Qrow." Winter states, placing the alien rifle down against a tree, noting how the encampment was now in total disarray, the terrorist organizations forces in total panic mode. There were only about sixty men down there, hardly an army of any size.

"It's not them I needed help with." Everyone's movement ceased upon hearing a roar from something huge, then another, then another. Qrow and Winter took off in full sprints down to Xal's position, they needed to think up a plan, NOW!

(Line break)

By this time most of the White Fang had scattered, an invisible, hyper-lethal enemy was not something any of the barely trained freedom fighters were prepared to handle. And in their panic they attracted something else, newly made and unleashed upon the world by its master, it was a mountain of flesh and hard bone, there was only one but it had many mouths to feed. The grimm hydra was the new definition of terror, its eleven heads sniffing and scanning for prey.

There! Humans among the smell of strange metal. It would go after the stationary ones first and then it hunt the runners. It moved as fast as its two short, muscular legs and snake-like body would carry it towards its food.

(Line break)

"Hahahaha! Watch them flee!" Xal laughed as he noticed Qrow and Specialist Schnee run up to him, there was really no need for them to assist now, so why the urgency? They looked pretty concerned though. "Why the looks of concern? The battle is won." Xal then heard wood cracking, trees falling, the earth shaking. From the surrounding forest emerged the largest grimm he had ever seen, he could not truly speak for the others, but judging by their faces it was probably the same for them. The creature had all the "normal" grimm characteristics, such as the bone faceplates and the black hides. This particular individual had ten heads by Xal's count, each head nearly as long as he was tall, each neck as thick as a tree trunk and as long as its eighty feet long body, which was covered in thick bone plate.

Xal quickly entered his sword stance and re-engaged his camouflage, he was unsure of how much he could hurt the massive beast with just his sword, but there was enough ordanance around that he was confident in a victory anyway. His two companions had also proven themselves quite competent over the course of their three day journey, so he had no need to worry about them. Unseen, he ran on to the beasts back and up its neck to embed his blade in it's skull, upon doing this the head and neck exploded into many blade tendrils, flailing about and mindlessly wrapping around things, including Xal's left ankle. He was slammed on the ground and then thrown into the fallen ship's hull, his shield was down and he was coughing up a little blood, a superficial injury at best.

Meanwhile, Qrow and Winter were a blur of movement, cutting into the monster's many necks leaving shallow but numerous wounds. Winter managed to weaken one head enough that it had to rest, she then marked the nape with a gravity glyph and propelled herself off of one her white glyphs, cutting the hydra's head off with a monstrous strike from her saber, and learning from Xal's mistake, pulled herself out of the way of the flailing tentacles that replaced the head.

Qrow on the other hand was using his scythe to strike the grimm whenever it was distracted, which was a lot. The mindless tendrils continually grasping its other heads heads, unfortunately the heads were not the only things being being affected by the whipping appendages. Upon landing from one of her three dimensional maneuvers, Winter's right heel embedded itself into some particularly soft ground, throwing her off enough to be swatted by one the massive heads.

With only one enemy still on his feet, the terrible creature could focus on Qrow, using its eight remaining heads to be able to land a hit with at least one, and succeeding to a degree, it could not get a bite but one its tendrils managed to the man into a tree. The strike team, for their part, was not down for long, Xal ran for one of the many weapons crates and was elated to find a fuel rod gun. It was an ancient model, battery powered and prone to leaking the superheated gel that it fired, along with a small chance of exploding upon a misfire, but it was still one hundred percent charged and fully operational. Xal had one his hand and had stowed another on his back.

Specialist Schnee was back on her feet and had summoned numerous grimm from her past successes to join the fray, she would be able to conjure the hydra soon enough. The creature was still being flayed by its own rabidly whipping bladed limbs, weakening two heads and killing another. There were still five active heads.

Xal took hefted on his fuel rod guns and took aim at one the grimm's inactive faces, the golden weapon launching a ball of hot, gelatinous death, which finished that particular skull and the splash burned away any nearby whips. He launched another ball of radiation at the second inactive head which managed to split into more tendrils which were melted by the super hot remains of the shot.

Meanwhile Qrow was busy chopping away at the remains of the former necks, the appendages being too unpredictable to keep around, Winter's summoned grimm keeping the hydra's heads busy. The monster, realizing its imminent defeat, had no choice but to unleash its final trick, the the tentacles and all but one of its heads began dissipating into a thick, inky gas, all three of the heroes were smart enough to get away from it though, before it began corroding and rotting away everything it touched. It then fled into the forest, as fast as it could.

Moving over to a nearby crate, Xal slumped down and removed his helmet, the was still coughing blood, the violet liquid was beginning to impede his breathing. The injury the beast caused him must be more severe than he originally thought. He had taken hits like that before with almost no injury, to be as hurt as he was now was quite unfortunate.

His two compatriots seemed to notice his condition and walked over to him, "I guess that thing hit you pretty hard, broke your aura in one hit." Qrow said, sitting down next to him, offering him a drink, "You can drink right? Your head's not gonna explode or something?"

"Haha- _cough cough,_ I can consume most things a human can," Xal wiped the blood from his mandibles and took the flask, taking a swig, "and I do not have an aura, never considered that I can have one, I might be too alien." Xal handed the alcohol back to its owner.

"Is this really the time to be getting drunk?" Specialist Schnee asked, incredulous. "There's nothing stopping that grimm from turning around."

"Oh look, it's Miss Holier Than Thou coming to suck all the joy out of the situation once again." Winter looked like she was barely holding back the urge to decapitate the human male, Xal had felt awkward every time it happened over the course of the mission, he had asked on one occasion if he should leave and allow them to mate. Neither were pleased. "And about your aura Spaceman, it's not a species thing. It's whether or not you have a soul, anything except for grimm can have one."

"And how do I go about cultivating my aura? I know only the most basic things about it, such as the ability to heal wounds, which I would very much be able to find use for." Qrow offered him another drink, which he accepted.

"Couldn't the drinking wait until we aren't in a forest infested with monsters?" Winter looked like she might snap from the tension in her limbs at any moment.

"I can release try to release your aura for you if you want," Winter somehow got even angrier in appearance, "I can't stand the smell of your blood, it's like hot asphalt." Xal nodded and handed Qrow his flask back, he would prefer his lungs not fill completely with his life essence. The male human put his hands on Xal's head and both were enveloped by a soft, blue glow. Xal soon felt his ribs pop back into place and his lung mending itself, he then coughed up whatever was left in his lung.

"Here, get that taste out your mouth." Qrow handed Xal the flask again, which Winter intercepted and took a drink from, sliding down beside the crate Xal was up against, Qrow looked pretty shocked, Winter just handed the container to Xal who took a drink.

"So now what?" Winter asked, looking like she just gave up. "Is someone else coming to keep this secure?"

Qrow grabbed his booze from Xal, taking a gulp from the somehow not empty at all flask. "The Kingdom of Vale should have some guys over here to pack everything up by sometime after the sunset." And so, the three warriors just sat watching as the sun moved west, painting the sky orange.

(Line break)

 **I don't know about you, but I'm content with this chapter. More than any of the others. Tell me in a review whether or not you agree.**


	8. Some uselessness

Vale's workers arrived an hour after the sun set, and after some negotiations and physical threats, Xal managed to procure a phantom and multiple weapons crates and plasma batteries from the buried ship, which was an ancient cruiser that had been there for centuries. Qrow and Winter would be getting transportation to the nearest town in the form of bullheads, while Xal would be riding in style. Luminous, purple style.

It took him mere hours to arrive back at Beacon Academy, his cargo attached to the Covenant dropship's underside. Soon he would begin working on ways to fuse Remnant technology with his own, and now that he had an aura he would have to spar with his students to further strengthen himself as well as them. He was gone for nearly four days, there would be a lot of catching up to do for class.

As for his technological ventures, he would begin work on making a dust battery for his beam rifle and perhaps infuse some into his combat harness. He would maybe even be able to make a substitute material for a needler to use, it shouldn't be too difficult given the explosive, high energy nature of dust.

It felt nice, to have plans again. To have true purpose. He missed fighting, he missed molding adolescents into mighty warriors. He had come to terms with the fact that he will make it back to where he once was, but maybe that wasn't so bad. Some would say giving up on home after only two weeks was pessimistic, but this world was perfect! He was well off on resources, he had a constant supply of enemies in the form of the grimm, and humans didn't need to mutilate themselves to be powerful.

After the long process of unloading crates and batteries into the forge that students use to repair their equipment. He began opening each of the four containers. In the first were plasma rifles, four of them, old models were powerful and had pinpoint accuracy, unfortunately the battery ran out quickly and its cool down time was rather slow.

In another crate were needlers, a weapon that generally remained unchanged over the ages, only a few variations from model to model such as a higher rate of fire or larger caddy. The third and final crate contained energy lances, like an energy sword on stick, another design that only ever changed slightly in appearance over the centuries, and something he would be overjoyed to use.

And with that business concluded he would speak to Ozpin and report the mission results. It was Tuesday so he shouldn't run into anyone on his way to the tower, every one had there classes after all. So imagine his surprise when he was hit by a red bullet and knocked to the ground as he rounded a corner.

"Oh my gosh! Professor, I'm so sorry!" Xal was still dazed by the strike, and from what he could see her momentum carried her straight through him, not slowing her at all.

"No need for apologies, that was a good hit." Xal wheezed out, slowly standing, he didn't have his shield or aura active. "And for what reason are you rushing about, you should be in class."

"Uh, it's three o'clock, and your class is cancelled today because you've been gone." He completely forgot the significance of the two to five time slot. It would normally be his class in session at this time. "And I'm in a rush because I put a chip in Crescent Rose's blade during training and I have to get there rightnowbecauseIjustnoticedand- what's that?" She stopped her original train of thought completely and pointed to the new weapon on Xal's hip.

"It's a plasma rifle, I found it on my last mission." Something he was still very happy about, the versatility of a plasma rifle was unmatched.

"Oh cool! What does it do?" The youngling's enthusiasm was infectious, there was a reason she was one of his favorites.

"It fires bolts of superheated plasma, it can melt through just about anything and vaporizes flesh." She winced at the vaporizing flesh part.

"Sounds like it hurts."

"I'm sure it does, I've never personally been struck by a bolt but I've heard enough screams." Not something that would ever haunt him, but he would never go halfway with a kill, which is why his weapons were never drawn without purpose.

"Oh okay, well I'm off to the forge. Bye!" And with that Ruby disappeared in a burst of rose petals. Which left Xal with a question, do these people pick their own names or are coincidences just very common? Just something for him to think about on his way to the tow- Ruby just said she was going to the forge, a whole room full of new weapons that were different from anything on this planet. No. Nothing would go wrong, Miss Rose was a responsible young woman.

One more long elevator ride later and Xal was in Ozpin's office, the clockwork table prominent as ever. "The task has been completed."

The silver haired man was currently speaking with Miss Goodwitch about something, but they stopped after his proclamation. "Ah Prof.Kalek, I'm happy to hear you were successful. Tell me, what did you find."

"Of course." Xal placed his scroll on the table and opened up to the file containing the photographs he took of the dig site. "The terrorist organization known as the White Fang uncovered the final resting place of an ancient ship, an RCS class armored cruiser."

Ozpin leaned in to get a closer look, "And what would you say the significance of this ship is?" Xal personally thought that it was fairly obvious, but he would humor the man.

"The ship was heavily damaged and will never fly again no matter what the effort, but many of the small arms within are still fully functional, some of the vehicles as well, though they would take time to learn the operations for."

"And, you are fine with this? That you may never find a way home." Xal's feelings in the matter where conflicted, but he would make do.

"I appreciate your concern Headmaster, but I am content with what I have right now." Ozpin just nodded, seemingly accepting of his answers.

"That's good, I try to make sure all my faculty are in a good state of mind, better for the children that way." Xal could agree with that, it would not be good for anyone if the teachers began projecting their problems on to the students.

"Of course, if there is nothing else-" Xal moved to grab his scroll, but was stopped by Ozpin's raised hand.

"Actually," Ozpin pulled a box out from under his desk, it was a plain white box made of thin cardboard, "Team CVFY finished your new outfit while you were gone."

Xal opened the box and picked up an article of clothing from it. It was shirt, loose fitting and really more of a short robe, the fabric was smooth and lightweight. It was a dark blue with black bands running along the seems and hemline. The pants were far more simple, made from a thick brown cloth and articulated to fit his legs properly. "It is perfect, my expectations have been exceeded."

"They will be happy to hear that, that should conclude our business for now, come by if you need anything, I'm always here." Xal nodded, picked up his new clothes and went back to his quarters to rest.

(Line break)

"GUYS!" Ruby Rose burst into her dorm, waving around an object with pink crystals poking out of the top. "Look what I found in the forge building!"

"Do you have to be so loud Ruby?" Weiss complained, irritated about having her studies interrupted. "And that could belong to anyone and you just took it."

"No, it's good." Ruby zipped over to Weiss, drawing out her words, and began stroking Weiss's face, still looking over the needler. Weiss just looked really uncomfortable. "Besides, there were a whole bunch of these in a big purple box, I don't think anyone will notice if one is missing."

"STOP TOUCHING MY FACE!!" Weiss screamed as she flailed her arms until her chair tipped over. "And what kind of excuse is that for theft?!" Weiss questioned, only slightly more calm.

"Both of you shut up, I'm trying to get my beauty sleep." Yang groaned from atop her bunk, weakly shaking her fist at the two offending girls.

"And I'm trying read, can you take this somewhere else?" Blake requested, not taking her eyes from her book.

"Well fine, I'm going to take this cool gun to someone who can appreciate it, maybe Nora, she likes pink right?" Ruby was answered by a pillow to the face, courtesy of Yang. "Ok, I'm going."

"We're talking about this when you get back!" Weiss yelled as Ruby closed the door. The red hooded girl knocked on the door just across the hall, no one answered. "To the shooting range it is then."

(Line break)

 **As a fair warning, most of volume one will be fluff, I don't know where all the time skips happen so I will fill in a lot of the supposed semester with random shit.**

 **And now to respond to people who I cannot PM.**

 **Za Warudo: I'm glad you liked it, I didn't want to make it a huge deal but I wanted it to happen.**

 **Guest: I'm sure someone would be perfectly willing write that.**

 **Don't forget to review, feedback will improve the story.**


	9. Monster

After Xal got back to his room he removed his armor and went to sleep after briefly contacting the Headmaster to inquire about Floats Aimlessly's location, he was told that the huragok was working somewhere in Beacon Tower's lower levels. Xal soon fell asleep and dreamt of one of his finest victories.

 _Xal and his lance were in a boarding craft, waiting for a human cruiser to exit slip space. The enemy's ship was escaping a now burning world, it had already repelled a boarding party a month ago, before it fled, but not before losing most of its defenders and having a tracker placed on it._

 _Xal and his lance would commence boarding action the moment it entered real space. They would retrieve the holy relic that made them spare the ship for this long, capture its A.I., and destroy the vessel after they left. His men were excited, not to see the holy relic, but for the fight ahead. It was rumored that there was a team of demons aboard._

 _He and his elites would deal with the relic and the A.I. while multiple craft full of regular infantry would mop up and distract what remained of the defenders. And if the stories were true, Xal's lance would get to kill the demons as well, since they would likely be the only ones capable of such._

 _Their boarding craft launched as soon as they saw the black-blue disk of a slip-space rupture appear. They would be going directly to the cargo hold, the relic was far more important than the construct. The artifact retrieval team consisted of three Spec-Ops commandos, including himself, and three rangers, who would continue the mission in the hangar in the event that the humans decided to vent the atmosphere. His lance would survive, their harnesses were sealed, but humans had an annoying tendency to turn off the gravity along with life support, making the rangers invaluable._

 _The tick latched on without so much as a lurch, and began burning an entry point into the cruiser's hull. The second the hole was opened up the rangers rushed out and killed the few marines and crewmen unlucky enough to be in that specific cargo hold. Xal's unit began securing the area while the rangers began opening crates in search of the holy artifact._

 _Even with the presence of demons Xal knew this would be an easy mission, the humans only had a skeleton crew and there was no way that they were prepared for the suddenness of this attack. Before long the rangers had already found the relic and were making their way off the ship. Now comes the difficult part of the mission, Xal and his men would make their way towards the bridge, kill whoever was present, take the humans' construct, make their way towards the nearest hangar bay, call in a phantom, which would be carrying an antimatter charge, leave, and finally watch the explosion._

 _"Warriors, engage active camouflage! Do not reveal yourselves until after we make it to their bridge!" Xal ordered, his body fading from view. His warriors followed suit, the only real evidence they were ever there were the bodies of fallen humans._

 _As they ran through the corridors towards the cruiser's bridge, one of Xal's lancemates had a question, "Where are the demons? Surely they would be making their way to try and secure the relic by now."_

 _"Their priorities are different from ours, our priority was the artifact, theirs would either be protecting their construct or finding a way to ensure it does not come into our hands." By that Xal meant they would probably try to destroy the ship and deny them access to any information pertaining to their home world._

Commandos, we have taken control of the engine room, the huragok have disabled the remote detonation procedures. They cannot destroy their ship now." _the sangheili minor on the other end of the communicator proudly announced._

 _"Excellent." Xal responded, he now had nothing to worry about. There was no way to stop them from winning now. "Forward."_

Xal's wake up alarm woke him from his slumber. He got up, put on his clothes, and walked out the door.

(Line break)

Walking to the forge, all Xal could think about was how great it felt to be out of his combat harness, his armor and body weren't uncomfortable, far from it actually, but he couldn't help but feel constricted inside of it despite it being perfectly made to fit his body. The clothes Coco Adel had made felt much better. More relaxed.

Xal opened the door to the forge, surprised by how conveniently empty it was again, he supposed it only showed how durable Remnant's weapons were. The only other person here was Phyrra Nikos, she was working on her spear. "How is your morning so far Miss Nikos?"

"Oh, good morning Professor." She greeted, only looking away from her work to give a friendly smile, "I'm doing fine, I'm just working out a few mechanical issues on Milo." The weapon in question was separated into its individual components, which there were a lot of, Xal could see how something like a small bend in one piece of the blade could make it all jam up. "What brings you here?"

"Science experiments." Xal then gestured to the pile of glowing objects. "I am relieved that the tools available to me seem more than capable of working on complex technology."

Xal figured he should begin with making a substitute for blamite, seeing as it would most likely be the easiest project. "Your help would be greatly appreciated as a matter of fact." Xal commented, "Your knowledge of dust undoubtedly exceeds my own."

"Of course, what do you need to do with dust?" Oh, so he _was not_ thinking out loud.

Xal walked over to the crate of needlers. "I need it to mimic this mineral right he-" strange, one of the needlers was empty, Covenant crates never stock empty weapons. And he thought he knew exactly who emptied it, just something else to add to his to-do list.

He put the empty gun back and grabbed one that was loaded. "This mineral right here." Xal pointed to the glowing pink crystals sticking out of the top.

"And, what does it do?" Phyrra asked, patient as ever. "You aren't doing a very good job of explaining any of this.

"Allow me to demonstrate." Xal pointed the weapon at a testing dummy near the back, and launched seven needles. The dummy was destroyed by the resulting supercombine.

"I think we can pull that off easy enough." Phyrra stated, nodding. "But I don't think it's very safe to be firing raw dust crystals."

Xal chuckled, "Since when is anyone on this planet concerned with gun safety?"

"What do you mean?" The red haired girl was clearly confused, only confirming Xal's assertion.

"You use your weapon's recoil to increase your mobility and striking power." The sangheili spoke like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yes, that's a very common practice, everyone with a sufficiently powerful weapon does it." She still wasn't quite getting it.

"You fire the your weapons behind you, in the air, all around. Physical bullets don't dissipate over time." Hopefully that would dawn some understanding.

"The rounds burn up eventually so we don't need to worry about it too often."

"Oh, carry on then." Xal really couldn't say anything to that, back to the previous topic then. "Now we can get back to our old tangent, do you think it can be done."

"I think we can, the guided effect might be hard to replicate, you know what you should do, go talk to Weiss, she knows the science of dust better than I do." Phyrra's scroll began beeping. "Well, see you later Professor, I have class in a few minutes." And with that she left, leaving Xal to carry out his business alone.

Xal went back to examining the empty needler, only to realize that he would actually need to buy a decent amount of dust to fuel his experimentation, and considering the steadily rising prices of dust, it would be a nightmare. Perhaps he would take a look at the local bulletins, see if there was need for his talents anywhere.

He would also need to figure out new activities for his class in case things got dull. With his phantom he could get to all kinds of new areas within minutes. As a matter of fact, he should begin researching that soon.

(Line break)

"Welcome back to class younglings, today I would like to start class with a demonstration." Xal picked a cookie off his desk. Everyone in the room was wearing confused expressions, with the exception of Ruby who was staring at the treat, wide eyed and drooling.

"This is a cookie." Xal turned the confectionary between his two fingers. "A soft, warm, freshly baked, chocolate chip cookie."

"Excuse me Professor!" Weiss raised her hand, Xal nodded for her to continue. "Is there a point to this?"

"That's for you to decide after I have finished." He then picked up the plasma rifle that was also on his desk, Ruby's face immediately fell as he tossed the cookie up in the air and shot it. The bolt of superheated, ionized gas vaporized the baked sweet and put a hole in the roof.

Ruby fell to her knees. "Nooo! You destroyed it! You maniac!" She then began pounding on ground with her fists. "Darn you! Darn you all to heck!"

By the gods! It was like he executed her sister or destroyed a treasured monument. Maybe her reaction wasn't that extreme, but still.

"And that concludes the demonstration." He placed the plasma rifle back on his desk. "Today we will only do hand-to-hand drills, and prepare for a field trip tomorrow when class is finished."

"Xaaal!" The mentioned alien's pupils immediately narrowed to slits at the noise. He turned to the source, young Ruby was pointing at him, her spine straight and her cape billowing despite the absence of wind. "I challenge you to an honor duel! You must pay for your crimes!"

"You should reconsider Miss Rose, grimm and common criminals are very different from an experienced warrior." Xal would have no choice but to accept if the child decided to continue, his honor would demand it, but he would rather not.

"I will not, you crossed a very sacred line, and for that you must be punished!" Xal never thought he would meet someone more dramatic than him, but he would not be outdone!

But before he could begin some dramatic acts of his own, Weiss slapped Ruby on the back of her head. "You dolt!" The white haired girl looked angry. "You are not going to start a fight with the Professor over a cookie."

Weiss was in turn slapped upside the head by Yang. "Don't hit my sister Ice Queen."

"Hey! It's not my fault she's acting like a complete dunce!" Xal was almost starting to feel bad now, almost. It was not his intention to start any conflict between the girls, he only wanted to punish Ruby for touching his things. But now he might actually be able to turn a malicious act into an actual les-

"Don't call her a dunce you spoiled little b-" the blonde stopped herself from finishing her insult. "You planned this." The little dragon said, turning her head to him. "You knew exactly how to divide us." Her eyes went red.

"Indeed." Xal lied. "And it would seem you passed the test." Xal gave his best grin, not that anyone of the humans could tell. "You saw straight through my ruse."

"Yeah! And now we're gonna kick your butt as a team!" Ruby loudly announced, the rest of her team preparing for battle, even Blake, who just sat out the recent, fleeting feud.

"Yes, and now you're going to-" Xal registered her words just in time to avoid having his head taken off by Yang's fist. He ducked under her strike and rolled to avoid a kick from Ruby.

Xal could only chuckle at their audacity. "I thought I taught you all than tha-" he was interrupted by a kick to the head generously provided by Blake Belladonna. He grabbed the cat girl by the leg as she was jumping away only for her to disappear as his hand closed around the clone's ankle. He quickly rolled to the right to dodge what he thought was the inevitable follow up hit. He was proven right as Blake sailed over his previous position.

"You caught me monologing!" Xal could still only chuckle despite their success, perhaps he would test the other teams in terms of their combat prowess later.

Xal removed his shirt to ensure it would not be ruined. "See! That is what happens when you do your sit-ups!" Nora yelled to team JNPR. "You all need to get in shape!" The rest of her team looked terrified, there were clearly problems if they that adverse to exercise.

Meanwhile, during the fight, team RWBY had Xal on the ropes, he was stuck on the defensive. More aggression on his part would be needed. He would need to eliminate Weiss first, her glyphs were impeding he his movement. Deciding he could afford to take a few hits, he rushed the white clad girl and slammed his shoulder into her face.

He followed up with a few liver punches, they didn't hurt her much thanks to her aura, but it was felt nonetheless. Not wasting any time, Xal then threw the girl at the approaching Yang Xiao Long, which was not a difficult task when was able to throw thousand pound spartans.

Xal jumped back a few times to avoid Blake Ruby's counterattack. He used the very brief respite to check his aura, the charge at Weiss cost him half. Aggression wouldn't work, perhaps he would avoid their strikes until they tired, he knew from experience that unaugmented humans couldn't fight for more than half an hour, then again this world was not home to regular humans, who knew how long they could go.

Xal needed this to end soon regardless, the other teams were watching rather than working. While Xal was dodging and counter attacking he came up with a plan, it was a bit more savage than he would have liked and could potentially cause severe injury to everyone involved, but it was his best option.

He waited for the next kick to come his way. It came in the form of a red boot, he saw the attack coming from a mile away. He sidestepped Ruby's kick and grabbed her leg. He then used her as a bludgeon against Weiss. Ruby's momentum along with his strength resulted in more than enough force to finish the rest of Weiss's aura.

Xal then flung Ruby at Blake. And as predicted, his excessive display of force against Ruby caused her sister to go berserk. In a ferocious display of power, Yang launched herself at him, hair aflame, fist cocked back ready to finish him off. And as Xal guessed, she was aiming for his head, which allowed him to duck under punch and deliver a savage uppercut to her abdomen. This launched her very high into the air and ate a good chunk of her aura.

The blond landed on top of her other two teammates, who were still recovering from being slammed into each other, and knocked them back down. Xal found himself short of breath, this altercation had taken more out of him than he thought it would.

"I believe that is enough for now." Xal had seen all he needed to see from this group, and he would need time to examine the others as well. "You fought admirably, however, I have notes." Xal cleared his throat. "You all still seem to be having difficulty with generating enough power in your fist to cause a stagger, which is very important in a hand to hand fight like this, you will get more power if your feet are planted on the ground."

He then turned to Yang. "And you have an even more glaring weakness."

Yang quirks up an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

"You are impulsive, that makes you predictable, predictably leads to defeat." Xal explained. "And after my aura recharges I will be examining the rest of you, so prepare!" He announced, catching his breath.

(Line break)

 **I am sorry that this took so long, I was busy with school stuff. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review telling me whether or not you did.**


	10. Haha, He Said Trap

It had been two weeks since Xal tested his class. They were all showing improvement, no matter how slight, they had only been training for a weeks now after all. The only problem was that they would never allow him to monologue, (whether or not that was a problem was debatable.) that bummed the proud warrior out a little, how where they supposed to know his thoughts if he could not monologue?

But that wasn't what had him on edge, ever since the cookie incident, Xal had found himself locked in an epic prank war of epic proportions. He could not stress the epicness of this war enough, though it was eight against one, one badass elite unit versus two of Beacon Academy's most promising first year teams, it was still an even war.

The cookie he vaporized two weeks prior? That wasn't a mere store bought hunk of unhealthy ingredients. Xal had spent hours perfecting that recipe, he used all the best materials he could get his hands on, he baked until he created the perfect treat, the most tragically delicious sweet anyone had ever seen. And he vaporized it. The point was that he was willing to put in a lot work for his petty desires.

He was currently setting up a log trap in JNPR's room, no one would get hurt, he put a pillow on the end of the one and a half ton piece of wood. But whoever next opened that door would be in for a surprise. He was about to jump out the window when his scroll chimed.

It was a text from Phyrra. " _Jaune got his first kill."_ Attached was a gif of Jaune beheading an Ursa Major. Good for him, that boy needed a victory, he started looking like a mess about a week and a half ago. Xal had no idea why, but it was hurting the performance of his entire team, so Xal obviously had to step in. He had a hard time getting team JNPR to talk, but they cracked eventually when their grades began to drop.

Jaune pulled him aside one day and made him promise to keep a secret, Xal learned that Jaune faked transcripts to get into the academy. It was dishonorable to be sure, but the promise had been made, he knew two secrets now. He was also told that the boy was being blackmailed, but Xal couldn't help with that one. He told Jaune that one day he would make a choice, he would have to choose his team or himself, and that only he would could decide whether or not he would take the cowards path.

And now it would seem that somewhere along the line he chose to be the warrior that everyone believed he could be. Maybe he would set up some sort of celebration upon his return. But _after_ someone had triggered the log trap, he hadn't dragged a tree trunk all the way up here for nothing.

And with that thought Xal stepped off the edge and fell a few stories, landing on his feet. He made his way to the kitchen to prepare make cookies, for eating this time, in celebration of Jaune's milestone. He was about to open the door when his scroll chimed again.

It was Ozpin this time. _"Come meet me in my office please."_ Was all the Xal got. He was generally fine with the vague instructions, they were better than _"Cut into the heart of the devils nest and extract the holy relic."_ which were just as specific, but you had to have been there.

Xal stepped out of the elevator irritated. That damnable music that played during his slow ascent was going to drive mad! He would install a gravlift even if he had to put it together using only his mandibles. But now wasn't the time for a mental rant. "You have need of me Headmaster?"

The silver haired man jumped as if he was surprised Xal was there, which was odd given that the elevator was not very quiet. "Oh, yes." He answered, regaining his composure. "When you missed last weeks faculty meeting I realized that you don't have a faculty email account, so I wanted to inform you that Deputy Headmistress Goodwitch set one up for you."

Xal cocked his head. "Is that all?" He hoped not, otherwise he would have come up here for basically nothing.

"Do you know of the upcoming Vytal Festival?" Ozpin was still only half there by Xal's perception, he couldn't know for certain if something was wrong, but it seemed like it.

"Vytal Festival?" Wrongness afoot or not he was still curious as to what this Vytal Festival was.

Ozpin took a sip of his coffee. "Yes, a celebration of peace between the kingdoms of Remnant, where students from all across the world come to participate in the Vytal Tournament."

That sounded exciting. "I love tournaments." Xal said with the sincerity one would think only a child was capable of. "And you say the students are participating? Is there a prize?"

The Headmaster was staring off into space again. "Headmaster?" Xal waved his hand in front of Ozpin's face. "Are you ill?"

The green clad human snapped back into reality with a shake of his head. "Apologies," Ozpin waved Xal off, "and I am fine, some... separation is normal for me." Xal felt that something was being hidden from him.

"Anything else you wish to tell me?" Xal asked, weirded out by how distant Ozpin was getting even during their conversation.

"The Kingdom of Atlas has requested your presence, they wish for you to help them solve a technical issue they've been having while trying to reverse engineer the technology on that ship you found."

"Atlas? I thought Vale was dealing with the cruiser." Xal wasn't concerned about the humans dealing with the technology, they would likely just blow themselves up. But he was curious as to why the kingdoms where sharing, humans were generally pretty greedy when it came to technology, the Arbiter had to strong arm them into sharing Trevalyan.

"Atlas is a bit better at the whole science thing than we are, so a little outsourcing is beneficial." Xal just nodded, it would seem that human greed wasn't as rampant as he thought.

"When would they be expecting me?" Now that he knew of the tournament, Xal would need to begin work on some new projects to ensure that _his_ students would emerge victorious. _I mean, they would win regardless, I trained them, but who couldn't benefit from better equipment?"_

"They said they'll be ready for you in a week." Xal was about to leave with that information but then Ozpin said on last thing, "And could you please stop booby trapping the student dorms? It's setting everyone on edge."

"Very well, I will call for a ceasefire." And on that note, Xal left, now wishing he had a cape so he could have gone with a flourish.

(Line break)

"Hold! I come in peace." Xal held up his hands in the hallway that contained teams RWBY and JNPR's dorms. They were currently trying to chip Jaune out of the wall, just in the door threshold was the log. "HAHAHAHA!!" Xal bellowed. "You actually tripped it!"

Jaune was not amused. "The pillow didn't help at all!"

"Anyway, if you all could give me schematics for your weapons I will be on my way." Xal said matter of factly, his brain switching to business mode.

"What?!" Weiss screamed. "No, why would we trust you with that."

Xal's pupils narrowed into slits. "Why wouldn't you?"

Yang put a hand on his shoulder, or tried to, Xal was very tall, after some reaching the blonde settled for a pat on the back. "I don't know man, you've been pretty mean about some of your pranks."

Xal scoffed. "Since when are a few practical jokes considered mean? And speaking of mean, I recall your last prank against me involving a bucket of solid ice."

"Hey! I said I was sorry about that." Weiss stated looking away with a blush of embarrassment.

"You do go into pretty intense detail with your retaliations Professor." Et tu, Blake.

"Yes, I remember the one from four days ago." Ren said looking off in recollection. "You somehow developed dust that would bind to our auras and make us itch." The other humans shuddered at that. What they didn't know is that Xal sold the formula to Oldman Shopkeep, turning a decent profit.

"That was a special case, I was not pleased when my boots were filled with syrup!" That took Xal hours to clean, the water simply could not get some of it.

"But that doesn't matter, Headmaster Ozpin has demanded we call a ceasefire." Xal looked to the still stuck in the wall Jaune. "And I believe we can all agree that this has gone too far."

"Yeah, it is getting pretty bad." Ruby said, scratching the back of her neck. "Sooo, why do you need our weapon schematics?"

"It's a surprise, but a good surprise, I promise." Everyone still looked on edge, but after a few tense seconds Blake, and then Jaune sent the appropriate files. They were later followed by everyone else. "Thank you. And congratulations on your first kill Jaune."

The scraggly boy just stuck out his thumb. "Thanks."

(Line break, POV change, earlier that day)

Ozpin was busy checking the stasis pod that contained Amber, the current fall maiden. "Are you sure." He turned to the man sized floating creature hovering behind the life support machine.

Floats Aimlessly waved his tentacles in front of the camera of his translator. _"I cannot fix her, I'm sorry."_ The huragok was clearly distressed by this fact judging by the way his head and tentacles drooped and his bioluminescence dimmed.

 _"I can only make the machine more comfortable for her."_ He waved again.

Ozpin sighed. "I suppose that's all I could have asked for at this point. Thank you for trying." Ozpin wished things were not the way they were, but wishes do not often come true.

 _"I regret that I could not have done more."_

"Me too."

(Line break)

 **I got something out early! Aren't you happy?! Now I think I have hit my stride, the story will begin picking up now. And like always, don't forget to leave a review, I do read them and they really do motivate me, even if I don't always respond.**


	11. Reveal Part 1

Xal loved making weapons, what was once forbidden in the time of the Covenant was now a favorable profession. He was currently disassembling an energy lance, he would begin with Ruby's weapon, his idea for Crescent Rose would be the easiest to put together.

Xal had a concept for everyone's weapons, all he planned to do for most of the bladed weapons was to replace blade with something better than steel, in all those cases plasma would be used. He already had the necessary pieces available.

The real challenges would be Yang's Ember Cecilia and Nora's Magnhildt, both required parts he did not have. He would "convince" the scientists he was supposed to meet in Atlas in a few days to "give" him some of the parts he needed.

But right now his attention was on the modification for Crescent Rose. It would be simple, he would replace the steel scythe blade with plasma. He only needed to take the components from one of the energy lances and change the shape of the containment field, he would then fix it to the appropriate mounting and that would be it. The same went for Myrtenaster and to a lesser extent, Crocea Mors.

He had no idea what to with Blake's grappling hook however, though a plasma blade could get caught in something, don't ask him how they just do, the blade wouldn't be able to change shape like the hinge on her sword does. So there was that issue.

He also had no ideas for Phyrra's load out, her shield worked just fine and he only had the parts to make so many blades, he was drawing a blank, it was the same with Ren, he couldn't step up his weapons power without compromising the small size, or could he? Remnant's strange technology was adept at shoving a lot of matter into illogically sized spaces, he was sure he could try to pack full powered plasma rifles into the space of Ren's machine pistols. It could work.

He _would_ brainstorm on weapons for the other teams in his class, but they were unlikely to qualify. Only three teams from each school would be able to participate in the tournament and he didn't feel like they would make the cut.

(Line break)

By the next week, Xal had completed the modifications for Ruby's, Weiss's, and Jaune's weapons. After having Floats Aimlessly make some fine adjustments he stored them under his bed, he would gift them to his students when all was complete.

Right now he and the huragok were preparing for the trip to Atlas, mostly packing snacks. For this trip Xal would be wearing his combat harness, he wasn't expecting much, but he heard that nevermores didn't like sharing the skies.

The trip itself would only take a few hours at top speed, but he didn't know how long he would be needed there, not too long he hoped. Ideally, he would be finished with his business before the day's end, but ideals are rarely a reality, complications were possible.

"Hey Xal!" Ruby was waving him down, jogging towards him, Yang was following close behind.

"Ruby. Yang." He nodded to each of them. "Anything I can do for you?" He removed his helmet to show them that he was paying attention.

"No way! Dude, you have a spaceship." Yang was excited by the phantom, compared to all other flying machines on this planet the dropship was quite alien.

"Not what I would call it, but I suppose it is capable of space flight, though I wouldn't be getting anywhere in any reasonable amount of time." Xal explained.

"Oh, that's so cool!" Ruby was excited too. She then suddenly gasped. "Do you think you could take us up there sometime! We could be the first humans to ever go to space!"

"I suppose you could, maybe one day we'll all go explore the space outside your planet." Floats Aimlessly chose that moment to descend from the gravlift.

Ruby immediately darted over to him. "I didn't know there were two aliens here!"

Yang just smiled and walked up to Xal's side while Ruby was busy accosting the poor huragok. "Where does this one find all her energy, she could power a starship." Xal stated, he wasn't surprised, he had been getting to know everyone for over a month now, but they never ceased to amaze him.

"That's my sister." Yang said pridefully. "But before we got distracted by your flying saucer, we were going to ask if you wanted to join us in Patch for spring break."

Now that was surprising, one of his hearts skipped a beat, it was strange that such a small gesture would make him feel so... loved.

Yang elbowed him in the side. "You okay dude? You _spaced_ out there."

Xal chuckled at the pun. "Yes, I am fine." He calmed himself down, being around humans for so long was beginning to make him soft. "And I would love to accompany you. Who knows, some vacation time might do me some good."

"Awesome, so where are you goin?" She asked, crossing her arms, watching as her sister continued to bother the other alien nearby.

"Atlas." Xal stated simply. "For top secret reasons."

"What, are you going to go into invisible alien assassin mode, taking skulls as trophies and all that?"

"Haha, I am going for completely non violent reasons, I assure you. But it's still a secret." Yang just smiled and nodded in response.

"No!" Both turned their heads to see Ruby looking upwards. "You get back here with Crescent Rose right now!"

"Xaaall!" She turned to him. "Your dog just floated of with my scythe!" She was pointing to sky, stomping her feet.

Xal chuckled a bit at the huragok being called a dog. "Worry not, he will return shortly. And he will return your weapon better than he found it."

And speak of the devil, there he is, with the weapon wrapped safely in his tentacles. He handed it back and went over to the phantom's gravlift. He then beckoned Xal over, signaling that they were ready to go.

"Well younglings," Xal put his helmet back on. "I will be going now, see you sometime tomorrow." He then zipped up the gravlift and walked to the pilot's seat.

(Line break)

The phantom arrived without incident. When Xal and Floats exited the vehicle they were met by none other than Winter Schnee. "Specialist Schnee! What a surprise, it's good to see you." And he meant it. The feeling was unlikely to be mutual but he considered them to be friends.

"Professor Kalek." She said in her typical cold tone. "I am here to escort you to the labs. Come with me."

After walking in silence for some time, Xal, the huragok, and Winter arrived at large, secure looking building. Winter gestured to the guards, who were staring up in awe at the two extraterrestrials before them. They opened the thick steel doors and stood to the side.

"What is it that you brought me here to see?" Xal asked as the doors closed behind him.

"We found a few items on that ship that we would rather not take any risks with, so you were called in to ascertain the purpose of those items." Winter answered promptly.

"Is that all?" He didn't know what he expected, but he was somewhat disappointed by the simplicity of the task.

"Yes, all you need to do is consult the scientists, explain a few things, and then you can go." He would have been offended by her bluntness if he didn't already know of her aversion to sugar coating.

They were approaching another set of blast doors, two more guards opened them and allowed the trio through.

In an effort to create unwanted small talk; "I would think a warrior of your distinction would be above such matters as escorting me short distances."

The woman showed no outward emotion. "You were seen as a potential risk, regular soldiers wouldn't be enough to stop someone good enough to be a combat instructor for huntsmen. I was chosen for this task because I already have experience working with you."

"Next time you see your superiors, tell them I said thanks for the compliment."

Everyone capable of verbal speech remained silent through the last door. Upon entering they were approached by a balding man with glasses and a long, white beard.

"Hello, I am Dr. Polendina, and I welcome you to my laboratory." The man gestured to the cavernous white room. The rooms normal color scheme was dotted with numerous purple crates and vehicles of similar colors.

"What is it that you require of me doctor?" Xal inquired, one hand behind his back and the other was keeping Floats Aimlessly in place.

The old human was appropriately intimidated by the sanghelli's considerable size, which was further exaggerated by his armor. "Oh, o-of course." Dr. Polendina stuttered out. "We just need you to identify a few of the objects brought in from that ship."

"Very well, lead the way." The bearded man led him and the huragok over to a big, spikey, oval shaped object. Xal knew exactly what it was. "That is a bomb, I suggest you avoid working with it."

"Yes I see." The Doctor jotted it down in his notes. Xal had to pull Floats Aimlessly back towards him. "Ok, we only have one more item we need you to look at." Xal and his huragok were then led over to a medium sized, gray, angular object.

The elite's eyes widened. "This was on the ship?" Xal asked, totally awed.

"Yes, it was found in a compartment near the prow."

Xal slowly approached it, he ran his hand over the surface, the metal was warm and smooth. "There is a seem here." Xal turned his head to Floats Aimlessly. "Open it."

Xal didn't care what could have been inside, he just wanted the relic opened. Dr. Polendina opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a decidedly feminine voice.

"Salutations father, I am here for my tune up." Everyone with the exception of the huragok turned their attention to the new arrival.

It was a girl with orange hair, no older than any of Xal's students. "And salutations to you too Mr. alien man." What was the point of a cover up if everyone just naturally guessed the truth?

"Greetings youngling, what is your name?" Before the girl could answer, a tentacle wrapped around his arm and turned his attention elsewhere.

The forerunner pod was opened, and there was a new life form present. It was a huragok, except it was small and green. This was a lifeworker engineer.

The other huragok tugged on Xal's arm once more. " _We need to go, someone needs to be fixed."_

That only barely made sense. "Who? Where?"

" _Back at Beacon."_ Aimless gestured to the lifeworker. " _Rises Slowly can fix her."_

Dr. Polendina asked what was going on but he was promptly ignored. "Fix who?!" Xal was getting tired of all the crypticness, all the vague instructions.

" _The woman in Ozpin's basement."_

 _What?!_

(Line break)

 **Another chapter, horray! That's all I have for this note. Don't forget to review.**


	12. Reveal part 2

"What is going on?" Dr. Polendina asked out of alarm. Xal couldn't blame him, the Doctor may not have been able to understand huragok sign language, but Xal was speaking English, or Vytalian, and all the questions pertaining to who where not spoken in a calm manner.

"It would seem there is a matter that requires my immediate attention." Xal had calmed himself down and went into professional mode. "I will be taking a few of these antigravity pods and this vehicle." He gestured towards a ghost. "I will send you schematics pertaining to everything here upon my return to Beacon."

"You can't just-" Xal gently placed his hand on the Doctor's shoulder, he would have picked the man up by his neck, but there would most definitely be severe reprimands if he fought his way out.

"I do not have time for negotiations human." Xal growled out. "I _will_ be taking these items, and in exchange, _you_ will receive schematics that will hasten your progress."

Xal looked around, there were multiple weapons aimed at him. All was still, all was silent. "I will need your answer now human."

Dr. Polendina was appropriately terrified. Having a giant alien warrior that close would do that to a person. "I-I don't have the authority do make that kind of deal."

Xal clacked his mandibles together and shook his head. "Then who does?"

"That would be me!" Xal turned his head to the loud, authoritative voice. The source of the voice was a reasonable tall man with graying hair dressed in a white uniform.

"General Ironwood! Sir!" Winter, along with ever other human in the room, gave a salute.

"As you were!" Everyone pointed their weapons back at Xal. "Now if you would be so kind as to stop scaring my staff." Xal took his hand off the Doctor's shoulder.

The General walked over to where all the action was taking place. "You must be Prof. Kalek." The man held out his hand for a shake, which Xal returned. "Headmaster Ozpin told me you could be aggressive, I guess I can see what he meant by that."

"So you can." Xal knew he was the one who was wasting time, and he hated it. But he would rather have what he wanted now rather than later, and he would probably have to negotiate the release of the lifeworker anyway. "Are you aware of the deal I am attempting to make, or must I repeat it?"

"I didn't catch it, so yes, please repeat." This General was about as formal as everyone else he had met. But that was good, less likely to lead to frustration.

"In exchange for the antigravity pods, the ghost, and the new huragok, I will give you all the schematics in his memory." Xal pointed back to _his_ huragok.

"Why are you in such a hurry? We could have talked about all of this without anyone being put in danger."

Xal used his head to gesture towards Floats Aimlessly. "He knows more about this particular issue than I do."

The larger of the two engineers drifted over to General Ironwood. He set his translator to text mode and showed Ironwood the cause of their haste.

The General nodded. "Deal. Now go and do what you need to do."

(Line break)

Xal chased the two huragok to the elevator. He had to jump a few times in order to avoid knocking into anyone. He forced himself into the elevator alongside the engineers. Floats Aimlessly pressed the buttons in a specific pattern and the elevator shot downwards at speed he didn't think it was capable of.

When next the elevator door opened, Xal was met with a huge, cavernous room. It was not very well lit, and the size only made it seem even more gloomy. At the center of it all was a set of pods of some sort.

Xal moved closer to them, his hooves clacking on the floor. One pod was empty, but the other? It contained a girl. She had severe scarring on her face, she was actually one of the few people he had seen that didn't have unnaturally pale skin though. He was sure she would have been pretty by human standards.

He reached out to touch the glass on the pod's door. "Professor Kalek, I see you've found one of our campus's more... out of the way facilities."

Xal turned to face the Headmaster, the man had that warm, far off smile he always had when talking to others. Only it seemed more melancholy now. "What is this place?" Xal asked, unsure of how to feel about this room.

"This is Beacon's stasis facility, something of a secret hospital." Ozpin walked up to the girl's pod and gently placed his hand over it.

"And who is this woman?" Xal asked. "Who is important enough to warrant this much space?" After The Great Schism, Xal learned to question those he worked for.

Ozpin sighed. "I suppose there is no point attempting to hide any of this from you anymore, I think you are someone who prefers transparency after all." The man moved away to a more open spot.

"This is Amber, the current Fall Maiden." He said that like it meant something big.

"And that means?" Xal completely disarmed himself, he ruined the perfect, tense atmosphere that going about by asking a question that disturbed the flow of the conversation.

"Right, you didn't grow up hearing the stories of our world." He walked back over to where Xal was standing. "Tell me, do you believe in magic?"

Xal didn't know how to answer that, many old stories from back home spoke of many miraculous things, and the old Covenant spoke of The Rings and the gods as if they had magical properties. But after everything, did he still believe in magic? "No." Was all that could come to mind.

"Hm, and what if I told you that it was real." Ozpin leaned on his cane, his smile becoming wry rather than sad.

Xal pondered his answer, he hadn't considered the possibility in decades. "I would not be able to your word on faith for something like that."

Ozpin chuckled. "Unfortunately I have no way of proving it to you right now." Ozpin moved his hand in sweeping gesture towards Amber. "But she is one of four Maidens, one for each season. They have been imbued with magical power that allows them to do things that a normal huntsman can't hope to replicate."

"Let's say that I do believe that what you say is true, if she had all that power, why does she need the stasis pod." Xal knew the question could be misconstrued as cruelty, but he was far too interested in all of this to stop.

The Headmaster lost his smile immediately after that. He sighed again. "She was attacked. And some of her power was ripped from her soul, she's been like this ever since."

Xal bowed his and put a reassuring hand on Ozpin's shoulder. "Fear not Headmaster, for I happen to have a solution to your problem." He beckoned for Rises Slowly to come to him. "Mend the girl."

That was all that needed to be said. The lifeworker gently floated to the stasis pod, accompanying the smaller individual was Floats Aimlessly, who opened the pod. Rises Slowly immediately went to work, his tentacles splitting into thousands of tiny cilia and dipping into Ambers skin.

Ozpin moved forward to stop the rather disturbing display, but he was stopped by four fingered hand. "Let it do what it does and all will be well, I promise." That calmed the man down a bit.

"This could potentially take a while, I do not how traumatic having something ripped from your soul is, but it may take some time." Xal led Ozpin away from the pod for now.

"Are you sure that she will be fine." Ozpin asked, uncertain, but with a tinge of hope.

"Rises Slowly is a creature that can fix any biological ailment, so long as she is alive she can be... repaired." Xal had trouble finding a suitable word, he could have said healing, but that is not a word he would ever be able to associate with a huragok.

"But speaking of her present condition, why would someone go out of their way to seek out a fairytale? Why fight someone rumored to possess immense power?"

Ozpin looked into the air. "Let me tell you a story, a story of gods, monsters, and magic."

(Line break)

Xal sat in silence, digesting the information that was just imparted to him. The grimm had a master, with human servants. Why anyone would willingly work with the creature whose sole purpose is the destruction of your species was beyond him. And these academies were designed to protect magical relics.

The only thing he could think of was the lie these academies were perpetuating. His students, his _children_ , were not here to fight monsters, they were here to be meat shields to protect some _garbage_ in a vault! Multiple thoughts ran through his brain, the first was that he should kill Ozpin for his transgressions, but that would serve no purpose, it wouldn't even make him feel better.

"What would you have me do Headmaster?" Xal needed to put his mind on something else, no need to give into his rage. He wound up sounding very downtrodden.

"Why do you ask? You don't need any more burdens." Ozpin did not appear to be in the best emotional either.

"I ask because I am making a vow." Xal growled. "So long as I am here, they will not die for _you!"_ Xal's mental state was deteriorating and fortifying at the same time. "So I ask again! What would you have me do."

Ozpin smiled again, Xal never realized just how easy it was to make such an expression sad. "Your reasons are as good as any I suppose." The Headmaster looked down and shook his head. "If you could look after Amber when she wakes up, that would help you keep your promise, as long as she lives, the vault does not matter."

"It shall be done, she will be safe so long as I draw breath." The moment was ended by a sharp inhale from behind them.

The Maiden was awake.

(Line break)

 **Yay, plot progression and heroic speeches! Don't forget to review and I will see you in the next installment!**


	13. More Uselessness

"Gaze at me much longer and we may as well exchange fluids." Xal joked, or did he? Either way he got the desired results, Amber broke from her shock and looked away with a blush.

"Amber? This is Professor Xal 'Kalek, our newest combat instructor, as well as your own personal bodyguard." Ozpin was explaining the current situation to the Fall Maiden, there wasn't much to explain beyond the trio of space aliens. And she was in good health, the only thing wrong was her atrophied muscles, those things happen after months of inactivity. She didn't even have the scar from her attackers anymore.

"That thing," ouch, "its tentacles were under my skin." Oh, she wasn't talking about him, good, that raised his opinion of her immensely.

"Don't worry, that is Rises Slowly, the one who healed you." The aforementioned huragok simply whistled and began wandering about the room.

Amber tried to move, but couldn't quite lift herself into an upright position. She just payed back down. "How long was I out?"

"It's been over four months now, you will need time to regain your strength." Amber tried to sit up again and almost succeeded.

Xal helped her up, she looked like she was going to object but thought better of it. "Supporting your own weight would be the first step in recovery." Xal took his helmet off, he would rather his new charge know what his face looked like. Not that he looked like many other people, even with his helmet.

"Speaking of weight, when was the last time she has eaten?" Xal asked, turning to Ozpin.

Ozpin went back to leaning on his cane. "She was being fed through a tube rather frequently, but I can't tell when she may have actually had a hot meal."

"I believe that will need to be rectified." Xal laughed. "I will return with a plate shortly." He then made his way to the elevator, perhaps he would ask Ren to help him prepare something, he could say he adopted a child.

(Line break)

"Oh! You could make pancakes!" Xal went to JNPR's dorm in order to ask Ren for help in preparing a meal, but Ren was not who he found. "Everyone loves pancakes!"

He had found Nora instead. The orange haired girl was as energetic as ever, and her suggestion wasn't necessarily bad. It was just that... he wasn't sure if letting her near a hot surface was a great idea. But she had already managed to drag him to the kitchens. "Don't worry, I've seen Ren do this a thousand times, it'll be done in no time."

Xal said nothing as Nora brought out the components for creating these... _pancakes._ "Alright! Get me a big bowl and we'll start mixing." Xal decided against his better judgement and followed the orders given, he grabbed the largest bowl he could find placed it on the counter.

"Now we're talking!" Nora then began dumping flour and milk into the massive bowl, the room becoming hazy with the excess powder. The girl grabbed a spoon and began mixing it furiously, Xal would have to clean his armor after this, that was a certainty.

"Now let's grab a pan and turn the stove up to full heat!" Xal did so without thinking of the possible implications of that sentence. He really had no idea how to make pancakes though, so there was no reason for him to think much of it.

Nora then began to hum while she poured the batter. Now all there was to do was wait for the things to cook.

(Line break)

"Thank you for your assistance Miss Valkyrie." It was done, Xal now held a plate with a stack of five fairly large pancakes. He and Nora had destroyed most of the kitchen and Xal's armor was completely covered in flour and splatters of batter, but it was done.

"You're welcome. Don't forget the forget the syrup, they aren't as good without it." Nora tossed a bottle of the condiment to him, he caught it in his free hand and waved goodbye. "Wow! I feel bad for whoever has to clean this up." Nora stated as he moved to the elevator.

Once he got back down to the basement he was pleasantly surprised to see that Amber was standing, she was leaning most of her weight on her pod, but that was close enough to standing. He was impressed by how quickly she was recovering from her comatose state. If she continued to be this resilient protecting her would not be a problem.

"Professor Kalek, I see you've returned, and I might I just say how good you look in white." Xal scoffed at Ozpin's remark, he needed to get his armor cleaned. He did not look forward to it at all, he was already anticipating much pain.

He turned to Amber and presented her the pancakes. "I have brought you food, I hope it is to your liking."

The girl ravenously dug into the disks of cooked batter, she didn't even ask for the syrup in his hand. She practically inhaled them, he supposed he would be hungry too if he had not eaten properly in four months. He should have brought a drink.

After she finished the pancakes she snatched the bottle of syrup from his hand and chugged it. "Thank you."

"You are most welcome youngling." Xal turned to Ozpin. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to clean my combat harness. Alert me when she is ready to leave this room." And with that, Xal left the building.

The most efficient way to get himself clean would be to get a high pressure hose, but who would operate the hose is the question. As he was walking down the hall that led to his quarters he was met with a lot of sniggering, only confirming his suspicions that he looked ridiculous.

"It was YOU!" He hoped that anger wasn't directed at him, he just didn't feel he had the time for it.

"No it wasn't!" He blurted out, his hands up in mock surrender. He didn't even know what he was being accused of.

"You're the one who destroyed the kitchen!" So that's what it was about, he recognized the voice but couldn't quite place it.

Xal turned around slowly. It was Glynda, and she was absolutely livid. "Ah, Headmistress Goodwitch," her grip on her riding crop tightened, "it's good to see you again, I don't think we talk enough." Xal was feeling lighter. "We should get together sometime, catch up, talk of the importance of cleanliness and proper hygiene, but alas, I have not the time right now."

Xal wasn't on the ground anymore, he instinctively kicked his legs about as he was then turned upside down. "Well you're going to make the time, we're going to the kitchen and I'm going to make sure you clean up after yourself."

"I would be happy to do so, but I truly do not have the time." She then began walking, towing Xal along with her telekinetic semblance. He had no idea why, but he was enjoying his current situation way too much. It frightened him just a little bit. "I have other business to attend to, all for the greater good, and I'm sure the school pays for people to clean."

"They pay _me_ to clean, and teach, and plan events, along with accounting and other paperwork. What makes your time anymore valuable than mine?" She was pretty angry, and Xal didn't fell like it would be in his best interest to refuse.

"Now that you mention it, it is true that I haven't seen any employees other than the professors. Perhaps you should take a vacation, I am certain that you'll be much happier after releasing some tension." She stopped listening to him, that was fair, he didn't have anything important to say anyhow.

"I haven't actually ever done any cleaning by the way, such tasks are usually performed by the universes lesser creatures." Xal mentioned. "I could possibly just make the kitchen situation much worse, it would probably be much more efficient if you were to do it, I-" Glynda slammed him into the wall a couple of times. "Do you treat all your coworkers with such cruelty?"

"None of my other coworkers leave their messes behind." Xal sympathized with her situation, he truly did, but he valued his time much more than he valued hers.

He took a plasma grenade from its place on his thigh and primed it. "Look, a distraction!" He then threw it far enough away that neither of them would come to harm, but close enough that the flash would cause some chaos.

The explosive went of with a bright flash, Glynda's concentration broke and Xal dropped to the ground. He was up and running within a fraction of a second. Meanwhile Glynda was rubbing the spots out of her eyes. All Xal had to do now was avoid her for the rest of life and he would be home free.

He took many turns in order to throw off any potential trails. After he was sure he escaped he went back to contemplating his armor situation, still needed to be cleaned. Of course there were other problems, such as his newest set of responsibilities, like how he was once again fighting for a lie, only it was worse this time because he was fully aware of it.

Xal understood why the secret needed to be kept, he understood that the alternative was death and chaos. He almost wished that he had just walked out of the basement and stayed ignorant, almost. Everyone had a reason to be here, some knew the reason, others thought they knew the the reason.

Xal now knew his reason, with the strength of his arms and the fire of his wrath, he would keep his children safe, until they found the path.

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 **Some more fluff, but with a rhyme at the end, and in a few more chapters we'll be at the latter part of volume one and into some more action. Like always, don't forget to leave a review, until next time friends.**


	14. Anecdotes

It was the beginning of spring break, Xal was prepping the phantom for his trip with the two sisters of team RWBY. Amber was coming as well of course, he couldn't exactly leave his charge unguarded. But that would mean that someone would have to go without a seat, which was perfectly safe, it just wasn't very comfortable.

"Not that I'm unhappy about taking a trip, but don't you think that we'll be a little out in the open?" Amber was a jumpy girl after she left the stasis chamber, Xal couldn't blame her, not after her hearing the tale of her attack, and seeing the aftermath.

"Nonsense! You will be accompanied by two of my finest warriors as well as yours truly, and by what I hear, their father is a combat instructor. You will be perfectly safe." But sometimes she was just too paranoid, she was going to an island. Humans love islands!

"If you say so." Xal just grunted at that and went back to checking things like the phantom's hull integrity and the state of the propulsion systems.

He turned on the gravlift just as the others arrived. "Hey Xal, are you ready to go?" Xal looked over at Ruby and Yang, and then noticed that Blake and Weiss were here as well.

"It seems that you brought the rest with you, excellent. Just know that only two of you will have seats." They all looked at each other.

"Aw, does that mean we can't bring them along." Ruby misunderstood his wording it would seem.

"No, there is plenty of space, just not a lot of seats." Xal had his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Just throw your bags in the gravlift and decide which of you wants to be sitting down during the flight."

"Well I think Weiss should get a seat." Yang then winked at Blake. Ruby looked at them in confusion, as did Weiss.

Blake smiled in understanding at whatever it was that Yang was getting at. "Yeah, our little heiress is far too delicate to be standing during a flight."

Weiss was taken aback at the insinuation that she was fragile. "Hey! I'll have you know that I am a hardened warrior, my grades aren't the highest in the school just because I'm pretty!" The white haired girl's skin was reddening. "I'm going to be standing and there's not anything anyone can do about it."

Weiss's eyes widened in realization, she looked like she was about to say something but, "I call shotgun!" Ruby shot over to the lift in a burst of rose petals.

"That's one way to get a seat. Eh, Blake?" Yang looked over at the black haired girl, who opted to remain silent. "Blake?" The blonde waved her hand in front of the faunus's face. "You okay there Blakey?" Blake's after image disappeared. "Dang it, looks like we're both standing Weiss."

"Whatever." The white clad girl walked under the blue beam of light and ascended upward into the dropship's belly.

"That looked like it was fun." Xal said, walking up to the remaining student. Amber beside him. Simple solutions to a simple problem, only went to show how easy it was to derail a complex plan.

Yang simply shrugged. "Not as fun as it could have been, but what are you gonna do." She then noticed the girl standing beside him. "Oh hey, I don't think we've met, you're Amber right?" Yang held out her hand in greeting.

Amber took it. "Yeah, it's nice to meet you, you must be Yang Xaio Long, he talks about you a lot." Amber was nervous, the way she saw it now, was that anyone could be an illusion, any individual person or piece of scenery could be an enemy in disguise.

But Yang didn't know this, so she just smiled and let go of the brown haired girl's hand. "Oh really? And what do you guys talk about?" Xal had stopped paying attention a while ago, he was currently making sure his ghost and Yang's bike were properly fastened in on the phantom's underside.

"He just talks about how you remind him of his younger self and how much he appreciates you not wearing high heels, which he never misses an opportunity to mention to me." Amber appreciated everything Xal was doing for her, but he sometimes tried to act like her father rather than her protector. Since the very first time she left the stasis chamber he had admonished her on her choice of footwear, even going as far to say that she would have won her fight if she was wearing boots. He meant well, but he didn't always do well.

"Yeah, that's our professor for you, he has a way with women." Both girls laughed at that ridiculous statement, the guy was nice enough, but his various pet peeves got him to go off on tangents and sometimes waste a lot of class time. Most of his tangents where based on the girls' choice of shoes.

"All the preparations have been made, I am ready when you are." Xal returned to the conversation, if only very briefly. "I look forward to meeting your father, he must have be quite the warrior to have been able to produce individuals such as you and your sister."

"Yeah, he's the best! I'm sure you too will be best friends." Gods knew her dad needed more of those, the guy was way too lonely.

"Excellent! I even brought my fishing gear, we could bond over the bounty of the tide pools." Xal walked over and was taken up by the lift, followed by Amber and Yang. Once he reached the cockpit he noticed that Ruby had correctly guessed which chair was the gunners seat, and after lifting Blake by the back of her shirt and putting her in the copilot's seat he was ready to be off.

Xal manipulated the interface in the way that started the engines. He let them warm up a bit before he turned off the gravlift and took off into the sky. And thanks to all the gravitational control panels in the troop bay, none of the people standing even felt the phantom move. They were even able to get into a cross legged position.

"Everyone just sit back and relax, we will arrive at our destination in around fifteen minutes." With that Xal closed the cockpit doors, Ruby put on her headphones, and Blake took out a book.

"Have you ever been to Patch Blake?" Xal decided that some small talk would be nice, fifteen minutes of silence could potentially get annoying.

Blake looked up from her book. "No, I've never had a reason to come this way before." That topic fell flat on its face. "Why black?" Hmm? "Why is your armor black?"

"A fine question!" An entertaining topic of conversation to be sure. One that Xal could go on about for quite a while. "The color itself is indicative of my status as a Spec Ops officer, though others from a different fleet may wear dark purple or brown." Which brought up another topic. "And that can sometimes be confusing, not among the special warfare group, but among higher ranks like zealots, it can be disastrous."

Xal had answered her question and was resisting a tangent, but it was a close battle until... "Disastrous how?"

That did it! "Let me tell you a story that'll really tickle you whiskers." Blake frowned at the borderline racist remark. "Me and my team were on a planet called Reach, our task was to take their defenses offline in order for ships to get through and... " He trailed off, there was no need to expose anyone to the horrors of orbital bombardment.

"What the ships were doing isn't important, but we were where working with forces from a different invasion fleet." Xal had set the phantom to autopilot, as he intended for a lot of hand gestures. "Now let me tell you about these fools. They did lots of dumb things, like use zealots in place of Spec Ops, and Spec Ops in place of stealth elites. Shameful really." The damned ministry, thinking they're sooo much better than the Special Warefare Group.

"Well anyway, that brings us to the actual comedy. Me and my team were placed under the command of Field Marshall Tark 'Volatamee, so me and my men were waiting in a clearing waiting for our commander when this stocky bastard in red showed up." Xal nearly giggled at the memory of what came next. "I called out, 'Major, where is Field Marshall Volatamee.' so this guy begins barking orders and I'm not about to take that from some rank and file fool from a farming village so I tell him to be silent before I execute him for insubordination then-"

Blake had her hand raised. "You would do that? Kill someone just for disobedience?" Xal had no idea why some humans seemed to find that strange, he thought it was generally standard practice.

"I've never actually done it, the threat was normally enough and most knew the command structure well enough to where I didn't need to make the threat very often. Is that satisfactory? Can we get back to the tale?" Blake nodded, clearly unsatisfied.

"Excellent! So as I was saying, I threatened to execute him. Now he got really angry and demanded to know who I thought I was, I told him I don't have to answer to a low ranking whelp like him. Then he tries to say he is a Field Marshall, and that makes me start laughing like a fool, before my anger takes over again and I tell him that if he wants to insult my intelligence, the least he could have done was paint himself gold. Hell, I would have taken silver." Xal goes quiet for a short time, he was getting to the embarrassing part.

"But then I notice that my men are being way more quiet than usual, my second in command, Sor 'Vasiree, comes and taps me on the shoulder and whispers in my ear 'Leader, that _is_ the Field Marshall, zealots wear red in his fleet.' If I were capable of blushing, I would have been doing so. After I had apologized profusely, we went along with the mission and completed it successfully. And I never had to see that man ever again."

"Ok, but I wouldn't call that a disaster, all that happened was you embarrassed yourself a little." Did she not comprehend the magnitude of his folly!

"But it was a disaster! It was humiliating, I couldn't show my face around High Charity for a month."

"Um, thank you for the story." Xal just nodded and began preparations for landing, they were almost above the... Yang household? Rose household? Either way they were there.

Xal opened the cockpit doors and activated the lift. "We have arrived, disembark when ready." He grabbed his small bag and waited for Blake and Ruby to exit the cockpit. Once they were out he closed the door and changed out of his combat harness, he didn't want an overly aggressive first impression. By the time he was finished everyone had already dropped down with the exception of Amber, who was waiting for him.

"I trust you had a pleasant ride." He asked.

"Yeah it was great." Xal wasn't entirely convinced, no one had ever directly attacked his soul, but he imagined it was quite traumatic. He wasn't a master of human expression, but she did not appear happy.

So Xal attempted to comfort her as best he could. "Cheer up, we are on an island surrounded by friends, and I am by your side always. There is nothing to fear." She smiled just a little. "Now come along, I will go first, make sure the way is clear. Then you follow."

Xal jumped down and was met with the sight of team RWBY happily chatting with an average looking blonde man in cargo shorts. He assumed that this was Yang and Ruby's father. Amber soon dropped down as well. They both went unnoticed for some time, neither made so much as a noise.

Xal was looking about, sniffing the air, all for appearances of course, just to make sure his charge felt safe. The blonde man, Xal had yet to learn his name, approached with his hand outstretched. " Hi, I'm Tai Yang. You must be the friend my girls were talking about." Tai said, smiling.

Xal returned Tai's greeting with just as much warmth. "Greetings, I am Xal 'Kalek, and this is Amber, my... daughter." Xal thought he saw that telltale glint of mischief cross Tai Yang's eyes, if only for a second.

"So you're an alien right?" The tattooed man had a worrying grin on his face.

"By definition, yes." They were still shaking hands and Xal was too distracted to stop.

"So, did you ever hear about the restaurant on the moon?" Xal shook his head, and he heard Ruby screaming "nooo" in the background of his focus. "It's got great food, but no atmosphere." Xal thought it was kind of funny, but everyone else with the exception of Yang looked as if they were in pain.

Ruby was busy trying to escape from the "dad jokes" as she called them, muttering under her breath, asking them to stop.

"Ugh, dad, jokes about the moon? That's so _cheesy_." Yang joined her father in torturing the others, though Xal did not understand her joke.

"Yang! Was that joke made of paper? Because it was tearable."

"Oh dad. You're just jealous of all my great _pun-_ liners." This was beginning to get out of hand, Amber had retreated back into the phantom and the rest of team RWBY went into the house. They just couldn't handle comedy he supposed.

"Well I guess I'll just get back to watching that show about beavers. It was the best _dam_ show I've ever seen." Both of the blonde haired humans began laughing uncontrollably. Xal didn't think their jests were _that_ funny, but he found himself chuckling nonetheless.

"The children seemed to have left, I suppose you were _kid-_ ding yourselves when you thought you were funny. Hahahaha ha ha." Both remaining humans stopped laughing, perplexing.

"At least you tried buddy." Both Tai and Yang had looks of pity on their faces. Tai came over and patted him on the back and began walking back to his house.

"What?! That was funny, it was at least as good as any of your jokes!" Everyone just continued on their way. "Fine, I will meet you all inside." Xal turned around in order to get his charge out of the phantom. A bird was watching them all the while.

(Line break)

 **This chapter was slow getting out, but I hope you enjoy, and as always, don't forget to leave a review. Or you can tell me what art style your brain thinks in when you imagine Xal. Later children.**


	15. Among Other Things

"I do not see the point." Xal was watching Ruby and Yang play a video game, nothing inherently wrong with that other than, "You could just go outside and do this, and it would be exactly the same." They were playing a fighting game, which was strange seeing how everyone in the building had abilities just as impressive as the game characters.

"But it's better this way Xal, no one can get hurt in a video game." He couldn't reasonably argue against Ruby's logic.

But that didn't stop him. "And when has anyone ever been hurt in a live fire sparring session?"

"All those times you made us beat the snot out of team CRDL because they said something stupid." Xal couldn't argue with Yang's logic either, he really had nothing left to say.

But that didn't stop him. "And when has a little discipline ever hurt anyone." He knew there was going to be a sound rebuttal the moment he said it.

"Every time _you_ try to discipline anyone, you know what? Give it a try, you might have fun." Yang handed him her controller. It was far too small for his hands, there was no way he could do anything with this.

(Line break)

"BEG! Beg on your knees! HAHAHA!" Xal was close to victory, just one more combo and it would all be over, victory shall be his! He was met with crushing disappointment when it turned out that he was one combo away from defeat as well. "No, defeated! By a human no less!" He hung his head in defeat, there could be no return from this.

"And there's nothing wrong with that, I'll have you know that there are far worse things to be defeated by."

"And I would have no choice but to agree with you on that point Weiss, but that doesn't make this suck any less." This was the first time he had ever lost, he was having a quiet crisis, he will have to change his name, escape to a new continent. No, that wouldn't work, he was the only one his kind on this world. Maybe if he got a really big coat and a matching hat-

"Come on girls, were going to the beach!" Taiyang knocked on the door to alert them. Ah yes, the beach, the perfect place to forget his sorrows!

"I shall go retrieve my fishing gear." Upon walking outside, Xal noticed that the small dog, Zwei, was barking at something on the roof. Closer inspection revealed a very much terrified Blake. "What are doing up there?" Xal called up. "I'm sure Taiyang's jokes are not nearly as bad as that."

"It's not that, it's that _thing_ next to you." She pointed towards Zwei, while retreating further up the roof.

Xal picked the animal up by the scruff of his neck and held him up for Blake to see, the dog simply barked happily at the attention. "This is a small, fuzzy animal, there is literally nothing he could do to harm you." The dog barked again, Xal gently placed him back on the ground. "Now come down from there, we are going to the beach. You may even use my fishing spear if you wish." Cat's liked fish right? Or was that dogs? Or was he being racist?

He got his answer when Blake leapt from the roof and on to his shoulders to avoid the dog, he stumbled, causing her to lose her balance, which made her grab his face for support. All this culminated into everyone falling to the ground. It was a pretty long fall, for Blake especially, who currently lay on the ground, stunned.

Zwei trotted up and began licking Blake's face, causing her to freeze up and go catatonic, ha, _cat-_ atonic. Deciding that the issue of Blake on the roof has been resolved, Xal heads to the phantom to retrieve the fishing spear he made days prior, as well as the waste cloth he would be wearing while in the water.

When he entered the dropship he was slightly annoyed to see that a crow had found itself trapped in the troop bay. He went to the cockpit in order to open the phantom's side doors so that the bird may escape.

When he turned back around, instead of seeing the bird make it's escape, he saw Qrow Branwen in its place. "Qrow?! What are you doing here?!" And how the hell did he sneak up on him. "I must say that your arrival is most unexpected."

"I bet." Qrow's hand was on his sword's pommel. "Amber, the fall maiden, and the girl with the world's biggest target on her back wakes up." His hand was the blade's handle now. "And you decide that the best thing to do is put her right next to my nieces and brother-in-law!"

Xal pressed the button the closed the side doors. His own sword's hilt ready to go. He wasn't expecting a fight, but he was ready for one. "And they are still perfectly safe."

"Oh yeah? And how can you guarantee that? You think that Salem and her goons are just gonna be nice and wait till you're done with this little vacation?! No, I bet they're watching right now just waiting to catch that girl alone."

"By being here I guarantee that she will never be without defenders, and based on how things are going thus far, I would say that they don't even know she's awake yet."

"No, by being here you're putting my family in danger! I don't know what's going in that squidy little head of yours, but she always knows!" Xal did appreciate being called a squid head, but he knew that Qrow was right.

"I have made many promises Qrow, I have made my mistakes, but I made a vow, so long as I breath, they shall be safe. I've have never failed a task, and I never will." Xal grabbed his fishing gear and made his way towards the lift, he was stopped by Qrow's hand on his arm.

"Listen, just don't pull this kind of stunt again." Qrow's visage softened. "They're already at risk enough with me around."

"I find it strange that you came all this way just to scold me. And I would also like to know how you got into the phantom without me noticing." It was a clumsy attempt at changing the subject, but Xal would not be granting Qrow's request. Ambers presence was a risk, that he could not deny, but he felt that everyone was safer with him near. Of course that could just be his species' trademark confidence speaking.

"I actually came to spend some time with my nieces, I'm going out on a recon mission pretty soon. I also need to talk to Amber." Qrow lightly kicked on of the walls, making a clanging sound. "As for how I snuck up on you, well that's a trade secret."

"You can turn into a bird can't you." It wasn't a question, it just sounded like one.

"I can turn into a bird." Qrow said the moment Xal finished his sentence, almost interrupting him.

"I think we should speak of this at the beach, there is much I still do not know about our enemy. And I am still apprehensive about the existence of magic, I have been taking all of this on faith thus far, and that is something I no longer wish to do"

(Line break)

Xal had underestimated the size of Patch, it was a very long walk to the southern most coast, the only area that would qualify as a beach. The rest of the island was made up of high cliffs and forests. Blake was currently making use of his fishing spear, a hungry look in her eyes told him that nothing she caught would go to waste.

Xal, Qrow, and Amber had distanced themselves away from the group to talk of classified things. "Xal, could you go over there for a little bit, buddy?"

"Why?" Xal knew his charge would be safe, but he still had questions about the enemy, questions he would like answered as soon as possible.

"It's private. We'll just be a few minutes." Xal saw no point in arguing further, his questions would be answered no matter what, arguments would just be a waste of time. He walked over to where Blake was. Judging by the bow, they needed to talk.

"I take it you haven't told them yet." He caused Blake to startle, making her miss a particularly large fish.

She quickly recovered from her disappointment. "Haven't told them what?"

"Of your heritage." She went back to scanning the water for prey.

"I can't, I'm not ready yet. You might not care about me being a faunus beyond my physical advantages, but humans aren't like you, they-"

Xal held up his hand for silence. "These humans," he gestured to their friends, "are far nicer than I am, I used to kick unggoy off cliffs just for the laughs."

Blake didn't know what an unggoy was, but she was disturbed by what was clearly another less than desired look into the alien's past. "You're not making it a very tight race if you put it like that, but I know that Ruby and Yang will accept me, it's Weiss I'm worried about."

"And why is that?" Did did he really not know? She knows he's only been here for a little over a month, but he must have heard something about the SDC's relationship with the White Fang.

"Because she's a Schnee." Blake didn't want to discuss this anymore, she had her secrets for a reason. But how could he understand that? From the three total short stories he told her, she surmised that he was used to being an upperclass citizen, he wasn't oppressed, he was the oppressor.

"And why should that matter, what does one's name have to do with anything?" There was no way he was serious, even with the short time he's been here he must have heard about them. "You are no longer affiliated with the White Fang, there should be no problems."

"That's not how it works!" Blake stabbed at the water and got a fish, but she couldn't be happy about that right now. "Years of bloodshed can't just be washed away with a few words."

"True, I understand that as well as anyone." Xal looked up in thought. "But I'm sure you will not be judged by your past, just as you shouldn't judge her for her name." Blake thought that would be the end of it. "If you won't do it for yourself, could you tell them as a favor to me? I hate secrets, I hate keeping them, I hate having them. But I will not force you. I'll even act as the mediator between you and your team if you like." The alien man sounded sad, way more sad than he should have been. Her's wasn't the only secret he was keeping.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't." Blake knew she was a coward, she was always running or hiding from something. If her friends ever found out who she really was, she would like to think that she wouldn't run, but she knew she would.

"I-I understand, thank you for entertaining the ramblings of an old man." He was just trying to make her feel bad now. And he was succeeding.

Meanwhile, with Qrow and Amber. "I'm sorry I couldn't get to you in time." That was all that Qrow knew to say, he wasn't great with the whole apology thing.

"It's okay, I'm alive at least, and Ozpin told me that that's at least partly thanks to you." That didn't assuage Qrow's guilt in any way, but at least someone forgave him.

"Thanks, anyway, how do you feel about tall, dark, and squidly over there?" He gestured to the alien who didn't seem to be taking his job too seriously.

"He's fine I guess, but I just feel like he's too nonchalant about protecting me." They heard the alien laugh at on of Tai's jokes as if to prove her point.

"Yeah, he was way more serious when I met him, I guess the alcohol had some lasting effects." Which Qrow was fine with, it would make working with the bastard a bit more tolerable, except for the whole putting his entire family in danger thing. That was bad.

A few minutes later. "Tai, have you ever seen a barrage of plasma mortars?" Everyone was sitting in the sand, just watching the sunset.

"No, I don't even know what that is."

"Well, let me tell you Tai, it is quite the sight. Bright blue globs of light, just sailing through the air, like stars falling from the sky. If one did not know they were weapons of war, it could be considered peaceful, like this sunset." Xal just let the memories come to him, the smell of salt reminding him of his childhood home.

"Huh, cool." And there went the moment. "I guess you could say, there's always _mortar_ love."

"GODS DAMN IT TAI!!"

 **(Line break)**

 **Alright, there's something I want to ask you. Do you want one more of these spring break chapters, or would you like it more if I just moved things along? Or are you fine either way? Don't forget to review, see you next time.**


	16. Bad Jokes

Xal's head was pounding. What the hell happened last night. "What is this infernal thumping in my skull?" He was pretty sure he was hungover. He didn't drink often, only a few times over the course of his life, but when he did drink, he always drank too much.

"You shouldn't have tried to outdrink uncle Qrow." Xal looked over to the annoying blurry spot that was standing over him, his eyes were having difficulty focusing.

"Is that what happened?" His eyes focused enough to see that the annoying blur was actually Ruby. He looked around a little, the only other people in the room was Qrow, who was slung over the couch, and Yang, who was drawing on the sleeping man's face. "Where is everyone?" Xal was struggling to find his balance, which direction was up again?

"They're all outside, for... reasons." Xal didn't like the way Ruby said that, or he wouldn't have, if he could think straight. After a few more seconds he was able to finally stand.

Xal massaged his head. "Why? What's outside?" He wouldn't be drinking again for a while. He hoped he didn't do anything stupid last night. When he opened the door his headache was intensified by the sunlight. It was immediately forgotten when he caught sight of his phantom in a tree.

"Who let me drive?" Did he drive? Did Qrow drive? The particulars of the story eluded him, he couldn't even remember what prompted him to drink the in the first place.

"You didn't drive. My dad did." That made sense, he doubted the man ever piloted a phantom. Or any aircraft for that matter.

"Did I do anything stupid?" That was Xal's main concern, he hated being embarrassed, it just wasn't a very dignified feeling.

Ruby had that look on her face, that look of not wanting to hurt someone's feelings. "Define stupid." And that was confirmation.

But he would define it anyway. "Did I do something that would detract from my reputation as a warrior and make it totally impossible to fear me?"

"Umm, yeah, you were being pretty stupid last night." Xal groaned, rubbing his head. He didn't notice that Ruby was giggling behind her hands. He also didn't notice Yang exit her house and start showing her team the hilarious video of last night's drunken hijinks so kindly provided by Taiyang.

(Line break)

"No, I can get a human girl if I wanted to." Xal slurred at Qrow in Tai's kitchen. "But I won't, cause that's gross." Xal took a sip from the bottle of whiskey provided by Qrow.

Qrow, who was more drunk than usual, downed another glass. "Alright, we'll make a bet, if you can get a waitress's scroll number, I'll give you 500 lien. If you can't, I get to have your alien bike." The bird man poured himself another glass. Yang's laughter could be heard in the background.

"Deal, let's go to that bar you keep talkin bout." The camera followed the drunken out of the house, where it turned away from the drunkards to a barely-holding-back-laughter Yang.

"I've got my fake ID and I'm ready to see how this plays out. And dad, if you're seeing this, I don't actually have a fake ID." Yang busted up laughing before turning off the camera.

When the camera turned back on, it was in a fairly clean drinking establishment, it was mostly empty except for a few stray patrons. The camera zoomed up on Xal leaning against a wall, talking to a somewhat alarmed waitress. "Mandibles aren't the only thing I have four of." The massive warrior said in his most seductive voice. All tension between the two evaporated in an instant. The waitress began giggling uncontrollably. Xal, seeing that his attempts were working, began implementing more of his stunning pickup lines. "I may be from space, but you're out of this world." Xal smirked, he was getting it. "May I have your scroll number, so that I may... phone home."

That did it. The woman wrote down her number, laughing all the while. "Thank you very much, I'll be sure to call you."

There was a squeak from behind the camera as Taiyang came in through the door. He made his way towards Qrow, who was still drinking and laughing his ass off. "Oh, hey! What's up Tai?"

"Where's my daughter?" Tai was not happy.

"Wait, one of the girls is missing? Which one?" Qrow was wearing a look of confusion and worry.

"Yang. Where's Yang?!" The camera lowered behind the booth for a moment as Tai asked his question.

"Hi dad. Uh, how's your night going?" The video then cuts out.

(Line break)

"You owe me 500 lien by the way." Xal said, mostly unamused by the recording of one of many idiotic actions taken last night. He would have to find something violent to do one of these days, no one would have to see him do it, but people would know he did. Next chance he got he would take a huntsman contract and disperse a bandit tribe or something, he'd leave a few alive to tell the story. Yeah, that'd put him back on top of his game.

"Fine." Qrow handed the card over to him. "But next time we hang out you should stay sober, Tai told me you were getting handsy and Amber was left unguarded." Qrow was beginning to accept that squidface was going to do whatever he wanted and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him, talking wise anyway.

"She was perfectly safe, but we are in agreement on my sobriety." Xal was looking at the phantom still in the tree. How he would get it out? That was a question nobody had the answers to. It was going to be a long day.

(Line break)

He did it! It took four hours, but the phantom was no longer in the tree, it was floating safely above ground. And luckily there was no damage, everything turned out alright! Except he did apparently say that he would call that waitress, but that would probably work out too.

But for now, he had another promise to keep. "Are all of you ready to go where no one on this world has gone before?"

"Yeah!"

"Are you ready to see your world in a way you never thought possible?"

"Yeah!"

"Excellent! Everyone get on board. We. Are. Going. To. SPACE!" Xal was just as excited as everyone else, there was just something so nice about seeing a world beyond the confines of its atmosphere. And it wasn't about to be glassed, which was a huge plus for everyone involved!

Even Tai and Qrow decided to join in. And who wouldn't? This would be a momentous day for everyone. He remembered the first time he left the gravity well of Sangheilios, the first day of his career as another of the Covenant's holy crusaders. That was over 80 years ago, and in a just one month on Remnant, he had forgotten how to act his age, he acted as young as he felt for the most part.

But that was enough thinking about the old days, he had memories to make, dreams to make come true. Maybe a few puns will be made, and they will finally accept his comedy! He made his way to the gravity lift once everyone was inside.

"So you're sure this is safe?" Tai asked once Xal was inside, the man was looking around the troop bay.

"Of course! I would be in my combat harness if we were in any danger." Xal made his way to the cockpit after that, this time it was Amber and Weiss in the seats. "It may take an hour or two to rise above Remnants atmosphere, so make yourselves comfortable in any way you can."

(Line break)

"Beautiful, is it not?" Xal asked a very awestruck group of students in very crowded cockpit. But it would seem that no one heard him, all were distracted by the screen in front of them, it was indistinguishable from a very clean window. A perfect view. But to some, such as Qrow or Amber, it meant something far more.

Up here, they were beyond the reach of the grimm, beyond the reach of Salem, beyond the the reach of any who meant harm. Up here they knew true peace, their problems and responsibilities couldn't trouble them. Nobody talked, everyone taking a moment of silence to appreciate this peace. And within all the feelings of awe, the feelings of safety, the feelings of peace, Xal felt happiness. This was the first time he had ever seen Amber relax, her eyes were firmly glued to the screen, rather than darting about.

Xal knew as well as anyone the dangers that were hidden among the stars, but they didn't need to know about any of that. There was no rush, everyone could revel in their pleasant sensations for as long as they liked.

Her response was very delayed, but Weiss had finally broken out of her daze before anyone else. "It's amazing." A choked whisper was all she could manage.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that this view is... out of this world." Yang had smelled the opportunity, and she took it. Unfortunately, this managed to break everyone else out their dumbstruck states. All of the students groaned in unison.

"Yep, Yang always was my... star pupil." And Tai couldn't resist an opportunity to make a zing either. This only elicited more groaning. Yang and Tai were now laughing, but this time it was better. Or worse. Because in space, no one can hear you scream. Or groan, or make bad puns about space.

"No, how could you?! We were having such a nice time." Weiss tried to put a stop to it, but she was thwarted by fate.

"It was bound to happen Ms. Schnee, on could say it was... una-void-able." The look on Weiss's face after Xal made his joke was heartbreaking. So it was a good thing he had two of those.

Then he noted the awkward silence in the ship, Tai and his daughter were shaking their heads in disappointment. "Why?! That one was funny!"

"It was, but look what you did to poor little Weissy, how could you look at this face and make a joke at her expense?" Yang was squishing her white haired friend's face in her hands, she messing with him, he knew that, but he was still slightly irritated

But not as irritated as Weiss. "Stop touching my face!"

(Line break)

 **I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I got just a little lazy for a while. And this made me want to put myself on a schedule, so I will update every Friday. This could result in longer chapters, but I can't guarantee that. If you are disappointed in this chapter, that's okay because I am too. Like always, don't forget to review and I will catch you next time.**


	17. Oneway

Months have passed, exchange students were pouring in from around the world. It was the beginning of the Vytal Festival, a celebration of peace between the kingdoms. And a certain sangheili warrior couldn't be more excited. In just a few more weeks he would be done with all of his current projects. Which would do wonders to open up his schedule. He just didn't have a lot of time between researching, teaching, and bodyguarding.

But aside from all that, he was most excited for the tournament at the end of it all. He would watch as his students mercilessly crushed all challengers, the thought was enough to make him shiver with joy. But until then, the projects were to remain secret. But then there was disappointment to be felt when he remembered that the tournament wasn't until the end of the school year, and not even a semester has passed.

At the moment Xal was hauling the crate that contained the weapons in their varying states of completion. All bladed weapons were complete and ready to be attached to their intended combat systems. Others took much longer due to the unfamiliar or not readily available technologies. But they will all be finished with time to spare. He was taking the crate back to his quarters so that no one would try to take a peak at their gifts.

He was interrupted by his scroll making noise. _Going to town with team RWBY, I'll see you later._ Amber had become less timid over the months, she had begun to make friends, go places, and do things that teenage humans were supposed to do. Xal generally allowed her her privacy while she was on campus, but whenever Amber decided to go elsewhere she was to inform him. Amber just didn't know what Xal did with that information, she thought he just wanted to know so he wouldn't have to worry, but the reality of it was that he would stalk her from the shadows unseen. For safety reasons of course!

 _I shall see you upon your return._ Xal was luckily already in his combat harness, he liked to have it on while he was working in the forge, so he quickly finished stowing the weapons and went to the airfield.

(Line break)

The shuttle ride was quick, and Xal went unnoticed, the benefit of active camouflage in a place containing the least observant people in the universe. Seriously, how is it that Blake is still able to keep her secret?! She even acts like a damn cat! But that's not the point! The point is is that he is following close behind his charge and no one is the wiser.

Weiss was talking about 'scouting out the competition' which was admirable, if ultimately pointless. What could someone learn about someone's combat skills if you never see them fight? Sure, one could make assumptions based on physical appearance, but that's it.

Xal was broken from his thoughts when he almost bumped in to the group as they stopped to look at broken into dust shop. It was surrounded by police. There were questions asked as to who could have been behind the theft. The policeman's guess was the White Fang. Xal had no particular problem with the extremist, but he wondered if of them remembered him, he hoped they did, it would be in their best interest.

"Hmph! The White Fang, what an awful bunch of degenerates!" Weiss said angrily in that snobbish tone that everyone expected from her.

But that remark obviously displeased Blake. "What's your problem!" Xal briefly thought about revealing himself to put a stop to this before things got out of hand, but the potential for this conversation to do good for them was too great. Maybe the secret would be revealed at last.

"What problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang are hardly a group of psychopaths, they're just misguided." Xal was having difficulty imagining why Blake would defend the White Fang. He would never defend the Covenant or their remains. But he supposed that some could never truly abandon all loyalty to their pasts.

"Misguided?! They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!" Xal remembered when he participated in that goal, good times then, just not very good for humanity, or the planets they were on, or any other species that happened to live on those planets, but he had fun.

"Then they're very misguided!" It took all of Xal's willpower to not show himself and end this, but this situation is how progress is made. "But that doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in downtown Vale."

The current conversation was thankfully interrupted by Ruby. "Blake is right Weiss, they never did catch that Torchwick guy, it was probably him." Torchwick? Xal never heard of him.

"The White Fang are still just a bunch of scum! All those faunus know how to do is lie, cheat, and steal." Xal was so busy resisting damage control that he almost didn't notice Amber had was about to walk right into him while she was pacing, he stepped out of the way just in time.

"Come on Weiss, that's not necessarily true." Good thing Yang was there, she was helping! But unfortunately what came next was not helping.

"Someone catch that faunus!" And now there was a monkey faunus, breaking the law. Gods damn it, now Weiss had more ammunition, their quarrel would never end now!

But the argument was over for now anyway as Weiss had instigated a chase to observe the primate. That remark wasn't racist because Xal believed that humans and faunus were equally garbage. Maybe he was racist, but it's not his fault he's better than everybody else.

And so Xal followed behind as the group pursued the agile faunus. The boy was quick, he had to give him that. Their pursuit was halted when Weiss ran into the last person Xal expected to see today.

Amber was the first to notice the orange haired girl on the ground. "Oh my gosh! Are you ok?!" Amber went to the girl's side and offered her hand.

"Oh I'm fine! Thanks for asking." The girl said in a cheery demeanor, content to just stay on the ground, completely oblivious to the hand being offered to her.

After a second of awkward silence. "Do you want to get up? My arm is starting to get tired." All of the other girls were simply looking on without a clue as to how the situation should be handled.

"Yes! Thank you very much!" Ms.Polendina took Amber's hand and allowed herself to be hoisted to her feet. "Sal-u-tations! I'm Penny. Penny Polendina."

"I'm Amber."

"Ruby, Ruby Rose."

"Weiss Schnee."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your h-gah!" Yang was interrupted by Blake's elbow in her side. "I'm Yang."

"So anyway," Weiss began. "What brings you to Vale?"

"I'm here for the tournament." Penny said excitedly, she then looked in his direction and waved in greeting. "Hi Mr.Alien Man!"

Xal quickly deactivated his camouflage and greeted back. "It is good to see you again Ms.Polendina. How-"

Everyone else present jumped and spun around. "Xal?! How long have you been behind us?!" Amber shouted, clearly very confused and startled.

"Wait!" Ruby jumped and pointed to Xal and Penny. "You two know each other?!" Ruby practically screamed.

"Yes, I met her and her father whilst I was in Atlas." Xal said, clasping his hands behind his back. "And to answer your question, Amber, I happened to be walking through town, I definitely was not following you to ensure your security."

No one looked like they believed that last statement, which looking back probably wasn't even necessary to utter. "So, Penny, how has your father been?" A quick subject change was needed.

"Oh he's been fine! But I'm not supposed to say anything else."

"Ah, excellent, excellent." There was nothing else to say about that topic unfortunately, but everyone forgot about him, so not a total bust.

"See you at the tournament. Come on, we still need to find that faunus riff-raff!" And with that proclamation by Weiss everyone turned to leave.

"See you later, friend." Ruby turned and walked off with the rest of her team.

That only left Xal, Amber, and a deep in thought Penny. "I need to go check something! Bye Xal, bye Amber."

And now it was just the elite and his charge. "You were following us?!" Amber shouted in mild anger.

(Line break)

"Maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake's team was stunned into silence. Her secret just slipped out, her life here was over. She didn't know what to do, so she ran.

"Blake, wait!" But she didn't hear them. She just kept running, she would have to leave Beacon. But where would she go? Her parents probably didn't want to see her again, not with how she left things. And the White Fang would just kill her if she went back to them.

Blake stopped at the school's statue, realizing that she had nowhere to go. She removed her bow as the tears came. She wouldn't let them spill though, so she tilted her head to look at the statue commemorating unspecified heroes slaying a monster. She remembered Ruby telling her that she wanted to be like them, and then she remembered telling the innocent girl that life isn't like a fairytale, that things just don't work that way. It looked like she was right after all, it was stupid to think that any of this could work, that her past wouldn't come back to bite her, that anyone could actually love her.

"Your secret has been revealed I take it?" Blake turned her head towards the source of that deep voice that had become so familiar to her. He was wearing his street clothes. He continued walking until he was standing at her side. "So you finally told them?"

Blake didn't want to talk, but she had trusted Xal this long hadn't she? "Not exactly, me and Weiss were having an argument and we both said some things, and now they know everything." Blake could feel more tears coming. "I don't know what to do."

Blake felt a large hand on her shoulder. "We should go talk to your team, get it all cleared up. I once said I would act as a mediator should you decide to tell them your secret, that offer still stands." He knelt down beside her, gold looking into gold.

Before either of them knew what was going on, Blake had her arms wrapped around Xal's neck and was sobbing, he smelled like leather. "I don't what to do." Her tears were freely flowing now. "I don't where to go."

She felt him return the hug, a few sniffles were all that she had left at that point. "You let me handle those little details, but just know that you need not go anywhere." Blake was glad that she could talk to someone, even if he was some kind of supremacist. "Perhaps we could take a walk, clear your head."

"No, I have to face this with my team. Thank you." Both were released from their hug.

"Anytime, and if you would like I can still help you to talk with your team."

"I think I can handle this on my own." And Blake meant it, no more running away.

(Line break)

 **I'll have you all know that I will work on being better at emotions. I will find some way to get Sun into the story, because to be honest I basically forgot about him. I will get Blake's thing resolved next chapter. Sorry I couldn't make this longer, but I just couldn't write for the life of me this week. Don't forget to leave a review.**


	18. Minor Escalation sounds like a ship name

"Blake! You came back!" The moment Blake opened the door to her room she was nearly tackled by Ruby's hug.

"Yeah, but I guess I have some explaining to do?" Blake asked nervously, she didn't mean for it to come out as a question, but that's what happened.

"Yes, you do." Weiss said, not even looking away from her notes. "I trusted you, but you were just another terrorist waiting to slit my throat!"

"Weiss! You know that's not true!" Yang interjected at the huge line that was just crossed. "Blake is our friend, our teammate, and what she _used_ to do doesn't change that!"

"Yeah Blake, we're here for you, _all_ of us." Ruby turned her head to Weiss. "Right Weiss?"

"Weiss, I just want you to know that I haven't had anything to do with the White Fang for a long time." Blake didn't want to say months as that sounded like too short a time.

Weiss simply held up a hand for silence. "I-I just need to think about this for a little while, I'll be ready to talk about this in the morning." She said rubbing her temples. "I'm going to sleep."

"Goodnight Weiss."

"Goodnight Blake."

The three who were still awake waited for the tension to slowly drain out of the room. "Are you okay Blake?" Yang asked in very clear concern.

Blake hadn't realized she spaced out until she came back to herself. "Yeah, I'm fine." Blake cracked a smile. "This actually went a lot better than expected. Thank you for being my friends."

"D'aww." Yang pulled the faunus girl into a hug. "But you do know what I have to do now, right?"

Blake's eyes snapped fully open when the realization hit her. "Please don't." Blake needed to get out of ear shot as soon as possible. Before it was too late.

"I guess you expected a... _cat-_ astrophy." It was too late. But Blake found that she was laughing in spite of herself. "It looks like you're really _feline_ that one." Blake's laughter grew more intense.

Yang was about to make another terrible pun, but. "Will both of you stop!" Weiss wasn't asking. "I need to sleep on tonight's situation and you are both ruining that!" Weiss stomped ineffectually for emphasis.

"Weiss is right, we all need some sleep." Ruby said, walking over to her bed. "Goodnight."

(Line break)

Weiss and Blake were walking through town together, neither had said a word to each other after last night. Ruby and Yang were watching the new Quill Smith movie, _Freedom Day,_ while the monochrome teammates worked out their issues.

Weiss cleared her throat, and stood up straighter. Blake stopped walking and turned towards her pale skinned teammate. "As you know I've done some thinking." Weiss took a breath. "I've realized, that I don't care." That came as a huge shock to the cat faunus, who was about to ask for clarification when Weiss held up a hand. "I don't care about what you used to do, that was then, and this is now. And I just want to say... that I'm glad you trusted us enough to come back."

"Me too." Neither were the type who enjoyed a lot of physical contact, last night's three hugs were a little too much for Blake, so they settled on a handshake.

"Hi guys." Blake and Weiss turned to see Amber and Penny walking towards them, ice cream in hand.

"Hi Amber, hi Penny. _He's_ not here is he?" Blake began looking around, that big weirdo was probably listening the entire time.

"No, he's at a faculty meeting right now, I told him I was in the library with team JNPR."

"On a Sunday?" Weiss asked incredulously. "Isn't that when all of the instructors have their days off?"

"He just said that it was important and he wouldn't be around for a few hours." Amber licked her strawberry cone and smiled for some inexplicable reason.

"Okay. So when did you and Penny start hanging out?" Weiss asked, pointing back and forth between the two teenagers.

"At first I just came into town to pick up something I ordered from Tuckson's, then I ran into her and we talked for a while and got some ice cream."

"And now she's my friend too!" Penny added enthusiastically, nearly dropping her ice cream as she smiled widely at the half Maiden.

"The very best!" Amber said, returning the smile. Amber was smiling because she wasn't afraid of the world anymore. She was surrounded by people she could trust and people who trusted her, even though she was pretty sure Penny naturally everyone she met, it was enough. The next time she met what's-her-face, she would be ready.

"Well me and Weiss were just about to go see if Ruby and Yang were done with their movie, you guys want to walk with us?"

"Sure, lead the way."

(Line break)

"You called for me Headmaster." Xal asked, walking into Ozpin's office.

The man in question turned away from his view of the school and sat down at his desk. "Yes, please take a seat." Xal did so. "I've asked you here to check up on Amber."

"She could have been up here to talk to you herself had your message been less cryptic." Xal growled under his breath.

"I called you here alone because as we both know, people like Amber prefer to keep their burdens to themselves." Ozpin sighed. "I called you up here because I need one hundred percent honesty."

Xal sighed as well. "Her mental state is improving, she becomes more independent and by the day." Xal smirked in happiness. "And her fears are subsiding as well, she is on her way to a full emotional recovery."

Ozpin smiled contentedly. "That is good. Now what is this about fears subsiding?"

"Her night terrors are becoming less common and her fits of paranoia are decreasing in frequency as well."

Xal thought he saw shock cross the Headmaster's face for a split second. "You never told me about any of that, and she never made any appointments with one of the guidance counselors."

Xal waved off Ozpin's concerns. "That is because I have been handling that."

Xal had never seen Ozpin frown before, at least not at him. "And you believe that is what was best?" Ozpin asked in his unwavering calmness.

"That is what was best," Xal said confidently. "the girl wouldn't leave my side for the first month. And she only barely trusted me." He sounded less confident after that. "And despite how it may look most of the time, I _am_ very paranoid when it comes to her safety, so leaving her with a stranger is out of the question."

Ozpin nodded, not exactly satisfied, but accepting of Xal's answer for now. He would return to that topic later in the meeting. "I suppose a little paranoia is well and good given the situation." Ozpin took another drink from his mug. "But what about you? Are you still okay with the direction your life has taken."

Xal didn't need much time to ponder the question. "Yes, I am quite content." His bottom mandibles slightly splayed out in his equivalent of a small smile. "I do not know if I told you this, but being here reminds me of home."

"How so?" Ozpin raised his eyebrow to emphasize his question, he couldn't say Xal had never mentioned that to him before. It was quite nice actually, he preferred it when his employees were happy.

"Almost everything!" The alien almost shouted. "Training warriors, children stay in communal dorms, names mean nothing until they are made to mean something!" The darkly scaled man was getting more and more excited. "Even you and the rest of the professors, it is like...like..."

"Like what Prof. Kalek?" This was the first time Ozpin had ever seen his fellow professor at a loss for words. There was no need for concern, but the Headmaster of Beacon was very curious as to what the warrior would say.

"It reminds me of family." Xal said simply, gazing to some far off place. "Foolish I know, but I suppose my feeble old mind needed something to graft onto." Xal sighed contentedly. "Nieces and nephews, sisters and brothers, and nothing to worry over except when they will be given the chance to fight." Ozpin couldn't really tell, but Xal made a face that looked to be associated with guilt.

"Is something the matter Mr. Kalek?" Ozpin asked in concern. He felt like he knew what was wrong, but it would be better to be sure.

"It's all of these secrets Headmaster." Xal looked down and shook his head. "It has been grating on my mind for quite some time."

"It does put a strain on ones soul, and it never gets easier." Ozpin suddenly found the contents of his mug very interesting. "Come to the window with me."

Both men got up and walked over to the office window. "What is it that I should be seeing Ozpin?" Xal was clearly confused, and just very slightly annoyed.

"You already know why we do what we do." Ozpin leaned on his cane a little. Xal gave a small nod. "This peace we have, it is fragile and people will always find an excuse to fight one another. If they knew about the relics there would be war."

"Not knowing our purpose is not what is bothering me, I have been questioning my sanity for nearly two months now." Xal's voice was that of frustration, his constantly changing mood was becoming increasingly concerning to Ozpin.

"I take it you're not joking about your teaching job?"

"You would be correct." Xal placed a hand on the window, feeling the sun's warmth on the glass. He took a deep breath. "I have been hearing whispers." He rumbled. "Quiet and unintelligible, but they are audible nonetheless."

"That does sound like a pretty big cause for concern." Ozpin paused for a moment. "Do you think that you might need some time or some help to deal with this?"

Xal shook his head. "Ask me again next month, the voices get louder as time goes on. I'm fear they'll begin to make sense soon enough."

(Line break)

"Salutations friend Ruby!" Penny exclaimed at seeing her very first friend exit the theater. "And your hair is looking lovely today Yang."

"Uh, yeah, thanks." Yang said, still not one hundred percent sure what to think of the strange ginger girl.

"Hi Penny, how was your day?" Ruby asked, she didn't think she would be bumping into Penny again. Maybe downtown Vale was just that small.

"Oh, my day was wonderful! Thank you for asking." Penny loved social interactions, even though she wasn't technically allowed to talk to anyone, and she loved talking to her new friends most of all! "Me and Amber are friends and I got to try ice cream, it was very delicious."

Penny was made even happier than she already was the genuinely happy smile that graced her friend's face. "That's great Penny!" Ruby's smile turned into a look of confusion. "But where is Amber, does she turn invisible now too?"

"Amber said she had to pick something up from Tucson's." Blake spoke up. "She said she'd meet back up with us in a few minutes."

"Ok, that makes sense..." Ruby trailed off. "Why are you still wearing your bow." The sniper asked in confusion.

"I'm not taking it off out here."

"Why? Would your ears get cold?" Penny's curiosity would be considered adorable by even the coldest and most unfeeling of people, but her words only shocked the members of RWBY.

 _Please be talking about my human ears._ Blake thought, it didn't make sense for human set to be the topic given how her bow went nowhere near her them, but she didn't think she could handle the alternative. "But my bow isn't even touching my ears." She hated how uncertain she sounded.

"It's covering your cat ears silly." Penny was oblivious to the situation, completely unaware of the strife her words were causing the cat faunus.

"H-how did you-" Blake stammered, not as terrified as she was last night, but still completely unsure of how to handle this. She might even have run away again were it not for Weiss's hand on her shoulder.

"Hey guys, I'm back." Amber was walking towards them, she looked at everyone's dismayed expressions. "What did I miss?"

(Line break)

 **I am super sorry that this chapter took so long, I just couldn't find the time and I was hit with some intense writers block. I intended for this to be the end of Volume One, but my loss of inspiration is killing me and I figured I should give you guys _something_ after over two weeks of inactivity. And on a side note, not that I have any right to ask this after this underwhelming addition, it would be really cool if any artists in the audience could make some cover art. PM me if you're interested. Don't forget to review.**


	19. Contemplation

"Of course I noticed, I'm was the most paranoid person on Remnant for a while, in case you forgot." Amber told Blake after being asked how she knew Blake was a faunus. "And your disguise really isn't that great to begin with... No offense."

Blake sighed, she didn't even try to resist the urge to droop her ears. "None taken."

Team RWBY, along with Penny and Amber, had joined Blake at her favorite cafe. Everyone, with the exception of Penny, was enjoying some kind of tea or coffee. After a good, long time thinking, the cat faunus still hadn't decided whether or not to ask for help with a personal issue. "But you don't have a problem with me being a faunus?" That wasn't the issue, but it was part of it.

Amber looked somewhat surprised at the question. "No, I have better things to have problems with, like fighting for my right to wear heels or the feeling of being watched. Even my inability to forget the image of tentacles digging under my skin." Amber took a few seconds to drink her iced tea and gauge everyone's reactions. "I have 99 problems, but you aren't one of them."

"Ok, that works. Thank you." Blake took a very confused sip of her own tea. It would seem that everyone present either didn't care or was being fully supportive, and she didn't think Penny would cause any trouble. She looked around at her friends and took a deep breath. "I need your help with something."

(Line break)

"For the final time, I do not need help with my mental state. I will deal with this in due time." Xal turned towards Ozpin to vent his frustration only for the whispers to intensify as he turned towards the Headmaster's direction.

Ozpin noticed him wince and quirked up a questioning eyebrow. "Fine, I'll try to figure out what the problem is by morning." Then Xal had an idea. "Move in that direction." A four fingered hand pointed to the left. Ozpin moved in the prompted direction and the whispers stayed at their current intensity as Xal kept himself facing the same direction. He moved forward, which didn't cause anything new to happen. He then turned around which caused the whispers to slow themselves. Xal then turned around the voices sped up their noise making. "It would seem I am expected to go somewhere off to the east."

"You plan to follow the voices in your head?" Ozpin didn't sound at all surprised, there was, in fact, no outward emotions, merely a question. "I don't think I would recommend that course of action, and I know from experience."

Xal wasn't listening, he was far too busy wondering if what he planned to do was the best course of action. Following the voices in one's head was a very bad idea on paper, but when he began to take into consideration the existence of magic... and aura... and dust, it all began to make sense! The semester would end in a few weeks, he would take his leave then.

He was about to tell all this to Ozpin when the man sighed. "If you really must go," The Headmaster paused at the commando's quizzical look. The man then smiled. "You were thinking out loud." The green clad man took another sip from that ever present mug. "But if you must go to wherever it is you are going, be sure to tell me what you find when you get back." Ozpin took a swig from his beverage. "But do try to keep your hands clean, so far you've managed to terrify nearly everyone you've met and I would like to avoid having any panicking citizens."

Xal thought that the wizard had trusted him more than that, but he did understand that he wasn't the paragon of peace. Ozpin had told to always consider mercy, and he told him he always considered it, but only when there was time to do so. It could even be argued that those he didn't have time for experienced his only _true_ mercy, everyone else had to sit through banter, puns, and immense frustration until he got bored.

But he would adapt, he planned to take his time on this trip anyway. "Very well, but mercy is rarely presents itself as an option." And on that note, Xal made his way to the elevator, there was nothing more to talk about here. "I need to buy a cloak." He said as the doors closed. "I should make an emblem too," a few people looked at him as he entered the main floor, talking to himself. Once upon a time he had a forerunner glyph on his armor denoting his place in the Covenant's ranks, he had dropped it for obvious reasons, he took another during The Blooding Years as a Sword of Sangheilios, the reason he dropped that was a story for another, more expositiony, time. After that there wasn't much reason for a symbolic representation of his reputation, he stopped being a fighter after the Created War reach its conclusion. He continued to ponder this dilemma as he made his way to the library to tell Amber he was done with his meeting.

Then he noticed it was dark out. He pulled up his scroll, _four_ hours. He had talked about all of his nonsense for four hours. No was anyone staying in one spot for that long. _Better call then._

(Line break)

Amber was startled by her scroll ringing. It was Xal. "Now isn't the best time." Amber was currently at the shipping yard watching for White Fang activity with Blake, Penny, and the rest of team RWBY, so this really wasn't the best time to be receiving calls.

An opinion Xal apparently didn't share. _"What do mean, 'not the best time'? What are you doing?"_ Amber was about to answer when a bullhead came in flying low. " _Are you at the airfield? You know I told you that I need to know when you are going anywhere."_

"I'm just watching a movie with my friends, they're giving me looks now. Talk to you later."

" _Very well, anyway I was calling to tell you I am finished with my meeting. And do you know where Blake is? I have something important to tell her."_

Yeah, she's with me and the rest of her team." Amber winced when she turned around and saw Blake, much to everyone's shock, jump out at a finely dressed man wearing a fabulous hat. "Listen I need to go, bye."

" _Wait-"_ Amber hung up to avoid prolonging a conversation that she kept digging herself into. And not a moment too soon as it seemed that Blake's "negotiations" with the criminal and his gang of terrorists was going to turn to violence.

(Line break)

She hung up on him! Sure, he understood that it was rude to talk during a movie (Once upon a time, back on the joint occupation world, an usher had _very_ politely asked him to keep quiet.) but where on campus other than a friend's dorm, could she have viewing something and not been able to just step out. Unless she wasn't on campus.

Luckily for everyone involved, based entirely on Xal's expert opinion, he had downloaded tracking software onto Amber's scroll whilst she was sleeping. It just wouldn't do for his adopted daughter to get lost now, would it? His thoughts were interrupted by a passing tumble weed, it was rather windy today, but his question was rhetorical and no one, not even the planet itself, should have attempted to answer it!

But that wasn't what was important right now! What was important, was that someone wasn't on campus like she should have been! She was at the shipping yard for whatever inane reason. Xal still had his teaching cameras up, so he decided to take a look. Oh, hell no! Magic powers granted by a magic wizard or no, fighting terrorists was _his_ job! He quickly ran to the area his ghost was stored. There was no time to get his armor, he needed to get to his charge _now!_ He quickly mounted up and pushed the shiny magenta vehicle as fast as it would go, speeding right off the cliff Beacon was on and into the town itself.

The long, controlled fall ended with a rough landing and a smashed car. Xal ignored the resulting alarm and sped off towards the sounds of a skirmish. Hopefully he would be able to intervene before anyone was hurt. He began to worry when he saw two bullheads firing their weapons. He slammed on the "brakes" when they were blasted out of the sky by what appeared to be a focus cannon! Where did that come from? There was no scarab that he could see. No, no time for that, he had no intention of failing his task of protecting the fall maiden, and judging by said maiden's earlier words, team RWBY as well. He sped right back up and arrived just in time to see the only intact dropship take off.

It would seem the battle was already won. And no casualties on either side it would seem, (except for whoever was driving the bullheads, but no one talks about them.) impressive. But not impressive enough to dig Amber out of the hole that was indignant rage! "What was our agreement?!" Xal growled as he stormed over to the least pale person within a mile.

"What?" Everyone turned to him in shock, like they hadn't expected him to be there. Which would be a fair assessment, given how this was meant to be kept from him for some reason, a reason he would figure out soon.

"Don't 'what' me! You know damn well what!" Xal softly dragged his claws across his face to show his frustration. "You know what happens if you die, correct?" Xal calmed himself. Hopefully this conversation wouldn't need to be had many more times.

Amber nodded. "Yeah, but you don't need to worry about me, I've been trained for this, I've been able to protect myself for years."

"Ah, but you had power back then, and yet you still managed to get beaten into the dirt by edgy teenagers." Xal smiled coyly, not in the sangheili way, no, but in a disgusting perversion of a human smile that he knew would unsettle even the bravest of warriors. He dropped back into a more normal expression for his next words. "But still, if you must put yourself in danger, at least invite me along next time. I may have even allowed myself to be convinced to keep the fight child friendly."

"Okay, I won't lie to you again, but only if you stop being as weird as possible about monitoring my safety." And so, a new agreement was made, one that probably wouldn't be honored by at least one member of the party. "Didn't you say you needed to talk to Blake?"

"Yes! Thank you for reminding me." With that, Xal walked over to were Weiss and Blake were standing. And they seemed to be having a very civil conversation while waiting for the authorities to arrive. "Everything went well I take it?"

The two girls watched him approach. And then Blake spoke up. "It went really well actually, I guess you were right." Xal never really could appreciate a human smile before, but he liked this one. Perhaps because it was one of the few that was ever directed at him.

"I'll have you know I'm always right. And I'm happy to say I told you so." Xal stood up straight and smoothed his shirt. "But now I'm interested in who had that cannon."

"That would be Penny, we tried asking her about it, but she said it was classified." Weiss looked at the ginger girl in what Xal could only describe as mild distaste. "How is it fair for someone to be allowed into the tournament with cutting edge technology?"

"I read somewhere that that is normal for Atlas students." Little did they know that soon they would have the best weapons to ever grace this little backwater planet! "Though I'm sure that using anti-vehicle weapons in a competition is considered excessive in most situations."

"Excessive?! She just blew two bullheads out of the sky and pulled down another using her swords!" Xal hadn't witnessed that part, one never expects much power from the bubbly ones.

"Interesting." Was all he could say, some further interaction with Penny in the future would be needed. Such shows of strength were hard to come to by. Such things would need to wait for now, as the authorities were beginning to arrive, their response time left much to be desired.

He looked over to the pair of girls. "Do you need me to say anything?" They both shook their heads. "Then I shall take my leave, I hope you have learned all you could about the situation."

(Line break)

Another great day in the life Professor Xal 'Kalek was nearing it's conclusion. Great may have been an exaggeration for most of it though, he should have just taken the phantom. But he didn't, so now he is stuck waiting for the shuttle to take off, and this is after he had to wait for it to get there, and just to sweeten the deal he had gotten another message from Ozpin. He had received some new information. Hopefully he wouldn't get distracted again and waste hours talking about nothing. He found that he was far too easily distracted in his old age, like when he forgot to ask Qrow for information on humanity's war against the grimm a few months back, or how he kept on forgetting to ask Ozpin about everything thing else.

At this point, all he knew was that Ozpin was an immortal wizard, that Salem was some sort of eldritch abomination, and they were currently fighting for relics that can only be accessed by magical girls. Perhaps that was enough, he didn't even what to do with what he had. All that could be done right now was watch and protect. Perhaps it was enough.

Where was all this coming from? He went too long without a distraction perhaps? Allowed his thoughts to wander too far afield. What would _She_ think of him, moping about just because he didn't have control over the course of fate. _No!_ That train of thought was for another time. _She would have tried to cheer you up with sparring match, potentially followed by a "sparring match"._ And the thoughts kept going on despite his wishesXal laughed slightly to himself as those happy memories came flooding back. Oh well, he might as well just let them sweep him away. He missed her, his wife. Speaking of family, he wondered how his nieces and nephews were doing, or his former team, those two were fun. They were probably bored without him to drag them into life threatening situations with a high chance of being disowned by their respective clans.

Good times those were. And fortunately, before the trip down memory lane could take a dark turn, his time for self reflection came to an end. Everyone present at the docks were now boarding, the questioning must have been fairly quick. Hopefully they would take off soon, everyone looked _so_ tired, Blake more than anyone. Some rest would be good for everyone, there were still going to be classes tomorrow, terrorist attacks were a poor excuse for skipping.

(Line break)

 _Queen has pawns._ Was what the message said. "By the gods! This, this is..." Xal was at a loss for words. "Completely useless." No he wasn't. "We already knew this! You already knew this!" Xal stepped back in frustration and pointed a long claw at Ozpin, who had the gall to look surprised! "Why must my time be wasted?!"

"You're overreacting," Xal froze at the wizard's stupidity, he then stiffly turned his head towards the source. "There is much to be gleaned from this simple message, it means Salem's manpower is greater than we initially thought and we should be more careful." And then he took a sip from his mug!

"Forgive me for not being fluent in cryptic, Ozpin, -"

"You are forgiven." A series of violent intrusive thoughts went through his mind at the speed of a smart AI.

"But this still gives us nothing, we don't know what they look like, what they're capabilities are, they're mannerisms. The next time I see Qrow, we are going to have a long talk on proper intelligence gathering." Said talk would probably involve throwing chairs and pulling cats out of trees only to eat them in front of their owners just to relieve stress. "Anything else?" He strained out. Still pissed, but somewhat relaxed.

"That is all, I thought you'd prefer to be kept in the know." Ozpin paused briefly. "Unless of course you have anything on your mind."

Xal had once again forgotten that he had wanted to know more, but now that he had been given the opportunity to gather knowledge, he had no idea what he even wanted to learn. "We will speak again another time." They nodded to each other and Xal headed on his way.

This elevator was too small.

 **(Line break)**

 **I'm back. About halfway through this chapter I just stopped working on it, and then all these past couple of weeks I am hit with repeated sources of inspiration, such as the volume 5 soundtrack and the halo infinite teaser. Another chapter soon, striking while the iron is hot.**


	20. Bye

**Hey all, I'm rewriting this story as I've reach a creative dead end with the current version, but don't be sad! The rewrite will have cool things like character consistency, proofreading, and _planning,_ crazy, I know, and I've even worked out a manageable schedule for chapter releases and am working up a back log. I'm super excited the rewrite too, I've got some plans, current iteration didn't have that.**


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